Energy / Energy-General

• BG Wins Multi-Million-Dollar Claim over Argentina

  British-based gas giant BG Group Plc has won a multi-million-dollar ruling against Argentina in a landmark case in the US Supreme Court.  In a long-running case against Argentina for losses occurred during a 2002 gas-price freeze, the US Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Argentine government must pay BG Group $185 million in compensation. Amid an economic crisis in 2001-2002, Argentina moved to freeze gas prices and change the basis of gas prices from US dollars to pesos, causing the bankruptcy of then-BG-controlled Metrogas. Related Article: Repsol to Settle for $5bn over Argentina Oil Asset HeistThe British company had…

• Geopolitical Turmoil Takes its Toll on ExxonMobil

  ExxonMobil had a pretty rotten week. On March 5 it announced that it would reduce capital expenditures this year, after having “peaked” in 2013. Its 2014 spending will hit $39.8 billion, down 6% from $42.5 billion last year. While that may seem like a good thing (cutting costs), investors apparently didn’t like the idea – its stock price dropped 2.7% during midday trading as a result, ending the day as the biggest decline on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Investors are growing concerned that ExxonMobil may be running out of good projects to invest in. Exxon’s production was down by…

• Hydropower increasingly important in Scotland

  A referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent country and leave the United Kingdom will be held 18 September 2014, with a straight Yes/No question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?" Pressing for independence is the Scottish National Party, which won an overall majority in the devolved parliament elections in May 2011. The latest study by polling firm YouGov found 53 percent of those surveyed wanted Scotland to continue as part of the UK. Given the high stakes, London is issuing dark, apocalyptic pronouncements about Scotland’s future should its electorate vote for independence. One concept that is being hammered home is…

• The Unstoppable Upwards Trend of Energy Prices

  No one at this point needs another column on the crisis in the Ukraine, the natural gas influence of Russian pipelines on Eastern Europe or speculation on the outcome of Russian military occupation and possible annexation of the Crimean peninsula.  But I do want to point out what these unexpected events have done to the price of a barrel of oil -- it has sent it higher again.The reason I make this obvious statement is precisely because the events in Ukraine were so unexpected.  What it tells us -- again -- is that oil price risk remains consistently to the…

• How One Idea Became Three

  I am a big believer in the “teach a man to fish” principle and not just when it comes to charitable endeavors. My role here at Oilprice.com is to help you to profit from the opportunities present in the energy markets and, while individual recommendations are a part of that, in the long term understanding how an idea is formed is often more useful than what that idea is per se.I am lucky enough to spend my time researching markets and individual companies and, over time, I have found that often the ideas that you stumble on as you research…

• Ukraine: The Investor’s View from Kiev

  Due to the tense standoff between Russia and Ukraine in the Crimea, and the increased pressure this has put not only on far-reaching international relations, but on Ukraine’s energy security and its critical energy independence ambitions, this week we take you straight to Kiev for on-the-ground insight.First, to recap the events of the past several weeks:Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February after months of street protests in Kiev, sending the country into a chaotic struggle for a new administration—with the energy portfolio one of the prime pieces of political real estate. But the ensuing chaos was sidelined by…

• Turkey Energy Advisory

  This week we have some important updates for investors as local elections near and in light of the potential energy and geopolitical reverberations across the Black Sea from Ukraine.On the domestic politics front ….There is a great deal of speculation that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan will attempt to secure a fourth term as prime minister, despite the fact that his party rules put a three-term limit on the post. Until recently, it was assumed that Erdogan would shoot for the president (taking over from President Abdullah Gul) in August 2014 elections, and that Gul would then possibly take over the…

• Ukraine: Vultures of Political Capital Descend

  An international crisis of the type that is now unfolding in Ukraine, and in the ethnic -Russian-majority Crimea region, certainly has a lot of external players wondering just how they can take advantage of the situation to win some much-needed political capital.While not the most obvious, there are two countries that could use this situation to the benefit if they play their cards wisely: Belarus and Canada.For Belarus, one might think that one of the world’s last surviving—and extremely colorful—dictators would be squirming under the discomfort of the success of Ukraine’s Maidan protest movement at ousting pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.…

• Can the United States Rule the (Energy) World?

  Geopolitical crises in Eastern Europe have been met with calls in the United States to use energy as a foreign policy tool. With U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz asking the industry to make a stronger case, however, it's domestic policies that may inhibit energy hegemony. "The industry could do a lot better job talking about the drivers for, and what the implications would be, of exports," Moniz told an audience at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. The Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that gross exports of petroleum products from the Unites States reached 4.3 million barrels per…

• It’s Scotland’s Oil – and it Will Need a Lot of Investment

  With the Scottish referendum campaign about independence from the rest of the UK in full swing, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been foolish to try to make North Sea oil a reason for the Scots to stay. There are plenty of good reasons to keep the UK united, but oil is not one of them, except perhaps that Scotland is going to be far too dependent on it, if it leaves. Energy journalist Chris Cragg explains the real issues the UK oil and gas sector is up against and why these will not be affected by the outcome of…