OPEC Pumps More Oil After Freeze Talks Fail

OPEC said the global oil market remains oversupplied and pointed to a larger supply surplus on the market this year, as its own surging output makes up for losses in outside producers hurt by the collapse in prices. Supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is climbing after sanctions on Iran were lifted […]

28% of US bees wiped out this winter, suggesting bigger environmental issues

More than a quarter of American honeybee colonies were wiped out over the winter, with deadly infestations of mites and harmful land management practices heaping mounting pressure upon the crucial pollinators and the businesses that keep them. Preliminary figures commissioned by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that 28% of bee colonies in the […]

Hungry Venezuelans Hunt Dogs, Cats, Pigeons as Food Runs Out

Ramón Muchacho, Mayor of Chacao in Caracas, said the streets of the capital of Venezuela are filled with people killing animals for food. Through Twitter, Muchacho reported that in Venezuela, it is a “painful reality” that people “hunt cats, dogs and pigeons” to ease their hunger. RAMÓN MUCHACHO ✔ ‎@ramonmuchacho A propósito de la noticia […]

Crude soothsayers should recall cautionary tale of ‘Peak Oil’

We view the world in stories. But the story does not always precede the fact. In markets, we often adjust our story, and our view of the world, to fit the fact of a move in the price. And no market lends itself to grand narratives as much as oil. This week at the annual […]

Lawn Farming, the Next Big Thing

Last week’s discussion in the comments section about making hay the simple, old fashioned way led me on to grandiose thoughts. Sounds crazy but the logic is all there. We have 40 million acres of lawns in this country. We spend $30 billion on lawn care. We annually irrigate our lawns with seven billion gallons […]

The real oil limits story; what other researchers missed

For a long time, a common assumption has been that the world will eventually “run out” of oil and other non-renewable resources. Instead, we seem to be running into surpluses and low prices. What is going on that was missed by M. King Hubbert, Harold Hotelling, and by the popular understanding of supply and demand? […]

New regulations for methane emissions from oil and gas

The Obama administration on Thursday announced a set of much-anticipated — and first ever — steps to regulate oil and gas industry emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas second only to carbon dioxide in its role in the climate debate. The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new rule that will target emissions from new or modified […]

Kuwait Plans To Ramp Up Oil Production By 44% Before 2020

A senior Kuwait Petroleum Corp official has confirmed to media the company’s plans to increase production by 44 percent to almost 4 million barrels a day in 2020. The plan is a continuation of current attempts to pump as much crude as possible and tender new E&P projects in the Persian Gulf. In addition, Kuwait […]

Pickens: Oil Prices Between $50 and $60

Boone Pickens, BP Capital’s chairman and chief executive officer, discusses the outlook for oil prices with David Westin at the SALT Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on “Bloomberg Markets.”

Oil Needs Two Saudi Arabias

I know, I know. What with tracking Canada’s wildfires and Nigeria’s unrest, you can barely tell where oil’s going in the next 25 minutes, let alone 25 years. Unpredictable, That’s What You Are Someone has to try, though. So on Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration released its annual International Energy Outlook, with projections through 2040. […]

Are Crude Oil Prices Related to the Rig Count?

Oil rig count lower for seven consecutive weeks Crude oil production has dipped by 8.1% from its peak. On May 6, 2016, crude oil prices were ~59% below their highs on June 20, 2014. Since then, crude oil prices started to fall due to oversupply. The US oil rig count fell for seven consecutive weeks, […]

The Peak Oil Dilemma

We live in a finite world. Fossil fuels–oil, coal, and natural gas–are our number one energy source. Oil, being the biggest, drives almost everything we do. And we’re rapidly reaching the limits of how much of it the world can supply. The concept of peak oil is simple. Geologists have determined that any finite mineral […]

The Coming War of Central Banks

Welcome to a currency war in which victory depends on your perspective. History has shifted, and we’re leaving the era of central bank convergence and entering the era of central bank divergence, i.e. open conflict. In the good old days circa 2009-2014, central banks acted in concert to flood the global banking system with easy […]

EIA Sees Brent Oil Prices Rebounding to $76 Per Barrel in 2017

The price of Brent crude oil should rebound in the next year to about $76 a barrel as consumption continues to increase in coming years, a key U.S. energy agency said on Wednesday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration anticipates increased growth in fuel consumption, largely through growth in emerging economies in Asia, the Middle East […]

Can Cities Be Sustainable?

In a rapidly urbanizing world, cities have become a hot spot for climate action. As urban communities expand, urban planners must increasingly play the role of climate change problem solvers, experts said yesterday. Currently, more than 3.5 billion people live in cities, according to the World Bank. That number is expected to reach 5 billion […]

The Massive Decline In Crude Oil Reserves

I spent a lot of time in 2015 warning that at year-end we would see a huge decline in crude oil reserves. As I have explained in the past, the reason I expected this is because of the relationship between proved oil reserves and oil prices. This relationship is important for understanding oil reserves. Some […]

Saudi Arabia’s Desperation Hits a Peak

“Off with his head!” Okay, so maybe the order to fire Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, didn’t sound that drastic when it was issued. However, that doesn’t diminish how earth shattering this decision is for the global oil market. Think about it… Ali al-Naimi has been (arguably) one of the most important figures in […]

How Oil’s Most Boring CEO Found Himself Atop 10 Billion Barrels

In the fall of 2011, Tom Spalding, a slim geologist with salt-and-pepper hair, stood before the board of directors of Pioneer Natural Resources, an oil and gas exploration company, to make a presentation unlike any he’d made in his 14 years there. Using two flatscreens in Pioneer’s suburban Dallas boardroom, Spalding, the company’s vice president […]

The Five Horsemen of the Modern World

Global warming, food shortages, water shortages and quality, chronic illness and obesity – these worldwide crises share striking similarities: each is getting worse, despite extensive and concerted efforts to control them. Daniel Callahan calls them the five horsemen of the modern world. “I have not been able to find any global crises of similar magnitude […]

Difference between Trump and Clinton as president: One million barrels of oil a day

U.S. oil production is bound for a significant shake up after the presidential election in November, says a senior editor at energy-information provider Platts. “This election is going to have a major impact on the direction of U.S. and, possibly, global oil supply. Maybe the most significant impact of any election in U.S. history,” said […]

Saudi Arabia: We’ll pump more oil… and prices will rise

Saudi Arabia thinks the world needs more oil, not less. Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s state-owned oil company, will continue to increase production to meet rising demand, its chief executive said Tuesday. And he expects prices to start rising by early 2017. “Supply and demand will come into balance by the end of the year, or […]

The Renewed Debates on Sharing, Inequality, and the Limits to Growth

As part of STWR’s ‘global call for sharing’ campaign, we are periodically highlighting the growing public debate on the need for wealth, power and resources to be shared more equitably both within countries and internationally. This debate is becoming more prominent by the day, although it is often framed in an implicit context without directly […]

Big Oil Abandons $2.5 Billion in U.S. Arctic Drilling Rights

After plunking down more than $2.5 billion for drilling rights in U.S. Arctic waters, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips and other companies have quietly relinquished claims they once hoped would net the next big oil discovery. The pullout comes as crude oil prices have plummeted to less than half their June 2014 levels, forcing oil companies to […]

How Much for the Sustainable Energy Transition? A “Back of the Envelope” Calculation

The world’s economy can be seen as a giant heat engine. It consumes energy, mainly in the form of fossil fuels, and uses it to produce services and goods. No matter how fine-tuned and efficient the engine is, it still needs energy to run. So, if we want to do the big switch that we […]

Of Boomers and Doomers

I suppose this is going over old ground, but I’ve been struck anew recently through various readings and conversations about the nature of techno-utopianism, and the difficulty we seem to have nowadays in breaking out of a boomer-doomer dualism – that is, either the (rather unhistorical) ‘boomer’ notion that human rationality, optimism and ingenuity always […]

Oil Sands City Saved From Fire’s Worst

Alberta premier’s declared Canada’s oil sands city saved and said a plan will be put together within two weeks so 88,000 residents forced to evacuate can return to their homes. At least two neighborhoods in Fort McMurray were scenes of utter devastation with incinerated homes leveled to the ground from a wildfire that the city’s […]

A Dire Future

Do you remember all the hopes Americans had for Obama when we elected him to his first term? Painful memories. He betrayed the voters on every one of his promises. There was no change, except for the worst as Obama went on to become one of the most vicious war criminals in world history. Despite […]

A Guide to Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Reorganize Its Government

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued more than 50 royal decrees on Saturday reorganizing the government of the world’s largest oil exporter. In a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency, the royal court said the changes were consistent with “Saudi Vision 2030,” the kingdom’s blueprint for the post-oil era, which was announced in April. […]

New Record Set for World’s Cheapest Solar Power

10 years ago making solar power cheaper than coal seemed like a very long term goal. Now it is reality. I wonder if the dudes at Google who gave up on this goal feel a bit embarrassed now ? Bloomberg reports that the developers bid as little as 2.99 cents a kilowatt-hour to develop 800 […]

America’s Story

Politics in the United States subsists on a single myth whose narrative is central to all positions, even most of the ones located at the fringe.[i]  This dominant political narrative pretends to be historically accurate, as if it explains where we have come from and where we can go from here.  But the explanation it […]

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