Category: Chemical

September 29, 2020

As the presidential election approaches, I am increasingly seeing claims that President Trump put the U.S. back on top as the world’s leading oil producer. So, let’s take a closer look. Here is a 2013 article from the Daily Mail […]

September 24, 2020

Pipelines exploded with the force of bombs, setting homes ablaze in Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts. Columbia Gas, the local gas utility, had allowed too much pressure to build up in its aging cast-iron pipes until finally, they erupted in a series […]

September 23, 2020

“Microsoft and Shell both have rich histories of innovation and bold ambitions to decarbonise,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Downstream Director of Shell. “We are proud of the work we have already done together. Our strategic alliance will enable us to push […]

September 10, 2020

At a campaign event in Jupiter, Florida on Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that didn’t garner a lot of media attention. The President ordered his Department of Interior (DOI) to extend the moratoria that currently exist on […]

June 26, 2020

Following last week’s release of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020, I began to review and analyze the data. Today I take a deeper dive into the numbers on petroleum. Oil accounts for a third of the world’s […]

June 24, 2020

Russia and Saudi Arabia both rely on oil sales to fund a majority of their budgets. In the last five plus years, China has become the biggest customer for both countries. In fact, China is the world’s largest importer of […]

June 22, 2020

While global carbon emissions saw a slight increase in 2019, the United States continued its long-term trend of reducing these emissions – at the same time that natural gas production and demand continued to increase – according to BP’s 2020 […]

June 19, 2020

This week, Rystad Energy announced the eye-popping finding that the world’s estimate of oil supplies had suddenly shrunk by 292 billion barrels. Needless to say, the announcement caused eyes to pop, as did the headline’s statement heralding the early onset […]

June 18, 2020

The worst crisis in the history of the global oil industry hit the U.S. oil services sector hard, prompting a wave of cancelled contracts, scrapped investment and bankruptcies. The worst, though, appears to be behind us. It is difficult to […]

June 16, 2020

Oil and gas markets have always been volatile. Prices went up, prices went down — sometimes violently — and when they did, fortunes were made and lost. The industry learned to live with volatility, confident that when the market went […]

June 15, 2020

Here’s a neat political trick: if you want to introduce a new law, but you know people will hate it, give it a misleading, nice-sounding name. It’s surprising how well this works. Let me explain. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency […]

June 11, 2020

Two United States Senators, Republican Ted Cruz of Texas and Democrat Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire, introduced legislation last week that would place sanctions on any company attempting to finish laying the pipe needed to complete the last 100 miles […]

June 9, 2020

A couple of crosscurrents are occurring within the oil industry. While many corporate boards are defeating efforts by activists to disclose more and more climate risks, most are already taking bold action to curtail their CO2 emissions. The broader question […]

June 5, 2020

Fossil fuel companies are set to face “terminal decline” because of falling demand and higher investment risks caused by competition from clean technologies and tougher government climate and energy security targets, according to climate finance analysts. The value of oil, […]

June 4, 2020

Some of the world’s most powerful oil producers had been expected to convene on Thursday, with energy market participants closely monitoring whether the influential group will officially agree to extend their deepest ever round of output cuts. OPEC kingpin Saudi […]