While offshore natural gas discoveries have spurred Lebanese and Israeli saber-rattling in a region widely viewed as rich in energy resources, a London analyst said it is too early to…
This week, Australia's Beach Energy signed an MOU with Japanese commodities brokers Itochu to examine the possibility of building an LNG plant fed by shale gas from Beach's tenements in…
Chinese officials announced plans to develop the country’s western provinces as the center of its energy industry and reformed the resource tax on oil, coal and natural gas extraction so…
Global venture capital investment in clean-tech firms hit record levels in the first half of 2010, with investment totalling more than $4 billion, preliminary figures reveal. A preliminary report from…
A mishap during the loading of an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia in 1993 initiated a cascading disaster, resulting in what was the largest offshore oil spill ever, but the…
For years, Chinese leaders looked to the millions of poor workers from the country’s interior as the engine of a roaring export economy. They would move to coastal provinces, toil…
Adjusting the arcane rules governing exchange trading execution will not remedy broader financial-system problems and global macroeconomic mismanagement that are producing a new wave of volatility in the world’s securities…
Q: Two weeks ago, the US House and Senate both overwhelmingly approved legislation (HR 2194) authorizing the president to sanction businesses that supply Iran with refined petroleum products or help…
Starbucks has a great business model. They've essentially created a chain of clearinghouses across the globe. Coffee is the anchor product. It brings a lot of people in the door…
Earth’s population is approaching seven billion at the same time that resource limits and environmental degradation are becoming more apparent every day. Rich nations have long assured poor nations that…
What has been one of the best performing stocks for the past week? Good old BP (BP), which clawed back an 18% pop off the bottom, a 13% gain from…
Over the past decade, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published several papers in which they investigated the energy return of corn ethanol. The energy return on…
Evidence continues to surface suggesting Myanmar’s possible interest in launching a covert nuclear power program with potential North Korean assistance. As part of the continuing saga of North Korea’s deviant…
Gold, gold, gold. What to do about gold? I get asked this question a dozen times a day, by some who have been long since the current move started more…
Advocates of a smooth transition away from petroleum may be surprised by the consequences of huge swings in the cost of oil. I first proposed a "head-fake" in the price…
While a student at UCLA in the early seventies, I took a World Politics course which required me to pick a country, analyze its economy, and make recommendations for its…
Every area of science or of business has its own area of research, literature, resentations and conferences. Since people in the field tend to read the same literature, this defines…
It is becoming increasingly clear that the US economy once again fell off a cliff in May. Commodity prices have dropped like a stone, the Baltic Dry Shipping Index has…
President Barack Obama announced nearly $2 billion in government loan guarantees for two solar projects, placing bets on both solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies. The two projects will directly create…
A number of different visions of China’s future as a leading world power are competing for public attention and influence. Among them are populist ideas that challenge Beijing’s official rhetoric…