The OPEC Showdown

It has been clear for some time that OPEC members are deeply split over whether $100 oil is good for them in the long-term. Saudi Arabia, having been in this game a long time, probably […]

Termite Power

When I was in graduate school at Texas A&M in the early 90’s, I selected chemical engineering Professor Mark Holtzapple as my research advisor. His work was exactly in my area of interest: Biofuels from […]

Welcome Guardian Readers

Introduction About a month ago, I was contacted by The Guardian, one of the major newspapers in the U.K. They were launching the Guardian Commercial Partners Network. While there is potentially some ad revenue involved, […]

Britain Defers Coal Plant

Coal-based power has had a rough run lately: Coal power plant decision deferred A decision on whether to build Britain’s first coal-fired power station in more than 20 years has been deferred to a later […]

Why Oil Prices Defied Expectations

Happy Thanksgiving to all! It was a normal work day here in Scotland for me, which stinks. But I am now home, the turkey just came out of the oven, and soon I will be […]

Analysts Puzzled over Oil Prices

I have said many times that I think that oil prices have gotten ahead of themselves. Yes, supply is tight, and I figured $100 oil next year was a good bet as supply further tightened, […]

This Week in Petroleum 11-21-07

2nd Update: Well, we got that big surprise, primarily because crude imports were sharply down from last week. Some excerpts: U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 14.9 million barrels per day during the week ending […]

How Would You Manage Saudi’s Reserves?

Too often people try to interpret comments or actions from Saudi Arabia, without attempting to understand the issues from their perspective. I think it is a useful exercise to ask whether their specific actions or […]

U.S. versus U.K. on Gasoline Prices

In the U.S., high gas prices tend to focus anger toward oil companies. In fact, as a reader recently pointed out, Shell’s CEO has even gotten death threats over the issue: Oil CEO Receives Death […]

Harnessing the Tides

I saw an interesting story from the Miami Herald a few days ago: Keys man’s dream: Harnessing the tides KEY WEST — Douglas Bedgood recently stood on a defunct Henry Flagler railroad bridge, watching as […]