One key question in determining the impact of instability in Libya and elsewhere on world oil markets is how much other countries can and will increase production to offset the…
China has set conservative targets for reducing energy use and cutting carbon emissions in its 12th five-year plan – and will reveal the policies to achieve them next week. Chinese…
The momentous protests in the Arab region, and especially Libya, present the Barack Obama administration with a serious foreign-policy test. The conflict in this part of north Africa is the…
According to an old saying on the stock exchange, “if the USA sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold”. But in the meantime it would seem as if…
I have been a huge bear on the Treasury bond market, saying that you must sell every rally for the next ten years. But markets have to breathe, and nothing…
The following chart illustrates the global economic slump in 2008. The Baltic Dry index is the benchmark index for global freight rates of bulk goods (among others iron ore, copper,…
Colombia’s announcement that China plans to build a railroad to serve as a canal alternative received widespread media coverage last month. However, the proposal is simply the most high profile…
Oil production is somewhat confounded by the reference more lately to “liquids” rather than “oil”, which includes hydrocarbons that are recovered, sometimes in great quantity, from natural gas wells, which…
An interesting article in the New York Times last week looked at Chinese plans to release details this month of its new five-year plan for energy conservation. The issue…
On this two year anniversary of the great bull market, one has to ask if it is about to die of old age. Take a look at the chart below…
There are reports that the unrest in the Middle East has spread to the Sultanate of Oman. While at the moment there have been only one or perhaps two deaths,…
Want to be (big “G”) green and classy? Well, you soon can be. Rolls-Royce is showing what promises to be the most luxurious (and outrageously expensive) electric car at the…
A wealth of unconventional methane is exploding onto the energy scene, much to the dismay of dieoff doomers, Russian energy tsars, and carbon hysterics. But what is the world to…
Most people imagine the future to be a place of plenty where energy is abundant and cheap, where every door is an automatic door and, most important, all of the…
The crisis in Libya and its impact on the energy markets shows the importance of oil, gas and mining companies fully disclosing the political, legal and regulatory risks they face,…
Last week, I saw silver rise $1 in one day. I remember when the white metal’s total cost was $1! Investment demand is overwhelming industrial demand by a large margin.…
The Middle East Turmoil has created a sell off in equities and a run to the safe haven assets of precious metals and oil. Even though rare earth prices are…
Texas tea has undergone the perfect storm over the past month, with the Middle Eastern dominoes falling one by one. It was the worst case scenario times five, and all…
It is tempting to look at the events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and, as shocking as the loss of life and bloodshed have been, at least console ourselves that…
“there’s so much unrest that one can actually sense or imagine unknown nano-particles of rage colliding in mid-air...” (Source: a private person who screens Middle East media for me and…