Low oil prices, if sustained, could mark the beginning of a long-term drop in upstream oil and natural gas investment. Oil prices reflect supply and demand balances, with increasing prices often suggesting a need for greater supply. Greater supply, in turn, typically requires increased investment in exploration and production (E&P) activities. Lower prices reduce investment … Continue reading Oil Prices and Production Shrinkage

They might not be driving them yet, but electric vehicles are definitely on the radar of some of the world’s top investment and market analysts. Last week, US-based global investment bank Morgan Stanley named “alternative fuel vehicles” as one of seven key market and technology options it sees as well positioned to mitigate or adapt … Continue reading Five things you didn’t know about the electric vehicle market

Shale is where all the action is and total C+C and total liquids should follow shale, not in lock step of course but pretty close. But the idea of different groups at the EIA all coming up with different production numbers is getting a little absurd. It is, and should be, causing a lot of … Continue reading EIA Oil Production Numbers All Over The Place, Again

American energy executives and policymakers are basking in the country’s newfound oil production clout. They’re reveling in the comeback story, written by improved techniques for shale oil and gas extraction, that have made the United States the largest oil producer in the world, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia. But amid the congratulations, some smart … Continue reading In Midst Of Oil Boom, Perhaps U.S. Should Look To Another Fuel: Methanol

BHP Billiton's petroleum chief Tim Cutt has laid responsibility on the oil industry to find economic new supply sources and drive down costs in order to prevent a future spike in prices. Mr Cutt told the APPEA conference in Melbourne on Monday that US oil production, which has surged by 3 million barrels a day … Continue reading BHP Billiton’s Tim Cutt says ‘staggering’ oil discovery shortage trend risks oil price spike

The U.S. oil production decline has begun. It is not because of decreased rig count. It is because cash flow at current oil prices is too low to complete most wells being drilled. The implications are profound. Production will decline by several hundred thousand barrels per day before the effect of reduced rig count is … Continue reading We Are Witnessing A Fundamental Change In The Oil Sector

Readers are keen to know when US oil production will begin to fall. This is not an easy question to answer but in the comments to last week’s rig count update some interesting links were posted. Among them I came across a link to an Energy Information Agency (EIA) report into US drilling efficiency that … Continue reading US Oil Production May Not Drop In Earnest Until 2016

Forget the threat of solar and battery-equipped customers defecting from the grid. The real threat for utilities unwilling to adapt to grid-connected customers installing ever-cheaper solar and energy storage technologies is “load defection” -- and that future will come whether or not utilities and regulators support it with net metering regimes and customer-grid integration, or … Continue reading Utilities and Renewables Integration and Customer Behavior

Spearheaded by the Senators from Washington State, legislation just introduced in the United States Senate will finally address the rash of crude oil train wrecks and explosions that have skyrocketed over the last two years in parallel with the steep rise in the amount of crude oil transported by rail (Tri-City Herald). Oil production is at an … Continue reading Senators Try To Stop The Coming Oil Train Wreck