I am, as regular readers may have gathered, somewhat of a contrarian by nature. I put that down to nearly twenty years in currency dealing rooms around the world, where…
The U.S. is burning coal at a slower rate, due to cheap natural gas and environmental restrictions on air pollution. With utilities unable to justify weighty investments in pollution control…
Regulatory AlertsA new tax law granting tax credits to oil companies appears to have survived a close referendum battle on Wednesday, with partial vote counts in showing that…
The price action late this week in the three major futures energy markets: crude oil, gasoline and natural gas, suggests the summer sell-off may be nearing its end. Keep in…
China’s demand for natural gas will more than triple over the next 25 years, according to a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural gas…
Much has been made of the potential for natural gas as a fuel for the trucking and rail industries.The dramatic fall in natural gas prices in recent years…
Everyone seems to agree that the world is running out of cheap oil. But how cheap is cheap? Until we know it’s hard…
For decades, hydropower has been the chief source of clean and renewable energy in the United States, but new federal statistics show that it’s about to be eclipsed by…
Big news this week from one of the world's premier mining firms. Suggesting that the sector is coming under pressure to reduce costs by all means possible.The company…
Producers in the coal space are desperately looking for answers these days.Miners are trying to find ways to maintain profitability. In the face of falling prices for most…
A few months ago, and without much fanfare, Fairbanks, Alaska hoisted a large, oval, 35-foot diameter wind turbine to an altitude of 1,000 feet over the town. From high above,…
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…