Oil and gas are at the heart of the Russian economy and are largely responsible for keeping Moscow’s government budget in balance. But the recent decline in the price of…
While I’ve been digging into a bunch of different commodities recently, there have been a number of interesting bits and bobs relating to coal that I’ve been squirreling away. Hence,…
Big Oil has been very successful at developing sophisticated technology to access oil in some pretty remote areas. Consider the technological skill necessary to drill several miles below…
The violence and cutthroat politics of the Middle East, combined with declining oil and gas production levels, has triggered a subtle but significant shift away from what has long been…
Stop a dozen people on the street and ask them what the biggest challenge facing alternative energy is, and most would probably answer along the same lines. There would be…
The best way to get oil out of the ground may be to pump in foam.Scientists pumped foam into an experimental rig that mimicked the flow paths deep…
A couple of very interesting data points the last few weeks--from an oil and gas region that most investors have written off as declining and decaying.That's the U.K.…
Ukraine’s next crisis will be a devastatingly economic one, as violent conflict destroys critical infrastructure in the east and brings key industry to a halt, furthering weakening the energy sector…
Mining companies are often seen as dinosaurs when it comes to making changes that will benefit the environment, but that perception may be shifting as some companies turn to renewable…
The confrontation between Ukraine and Russia has entered a potentially dangerous new phase that could increase the likelihood of a dispute over energy supplies.On Aug. 15, Ukrainian authorities…
Why We Need to Be Careful with How We Generalize Energy NeedsDoña Maria (pictured above) moved from being one of the…
While Germany is breaking world records for the amount of sustainable energy it uses every year, German energy customers are breaking European records for the amount they pay in monthly…
Deep in U.S. coal country, people are suffering economically not just from the White House’s determination to reduce America’s dependence on coal, but also because of competition from an unlikely…
The impact of the Marcellus shale formation on domestic natural gas supply is difficult to overstate. The speed and volume in developing this formation is astonishing. In 2007, Marcellus supplied…
A new study of the fluids used in the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows that several of them may not be as safe as the energy industry…
A new study from Stanford University scientists finds no direct evidence of water contamination from hydraulic fracturing in Wyoming, but points out concerns that some fracking is being undertaken…
The world has changed. Even two years ago, with a war going on by proxy between Russia and Ukraine, we'd have seen a ten dollar rally in the price of…
For more than seventy years the oil reserves of Mexico have been the exclusive property of the state run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. That changed at the end…
The U.S. hosted an unprecedented summit of 50 heads of African states in Washington, D.C. in early August. The event was meant to highlight the enormous investment opportunity that the…
Geopolitical, Political & Conflict Updates• High-level industry sources in Ukraine inform us that talk of extending the new gas tax beyond the end of the year is gaining…