U.S. oil reserve tumbles to lowest level in 4 decades
After about 100 days of slow retreat, gasoline prices are going the wrong way again. AAA’s national average price for a gallon of gas ticked up Wednesday, then again Thursday. Back in March, President...
View ArticleGermany warned about the danger of becoming economically dependent on China
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany has taken a big economic hit because of its energy dependence on the Kremlin. After President Vladimir Putin cut off supplies of Russian natural gas to...
View ArticleAfter a year of drawdowns, the Biden administration moves to replenish the...
The U.S. Energy Department is gearing up to start replenishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after a record year of drawdowns. The SPR is the massive store of crude oil the government set aside in...
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Wastewater workers wish for a fatberg-free holiday
Holiday meals — with all that delicious butter, cream and gravy — can leave you feeling stuck to the couch. The grease and oil can wreak havoc on our sewer systems too, when they combine with trash to...
View ArticleIn the West Texas oil patch, a boom in drilling has led to a growing number...
In the past few weeks, the West Texas oil patch has been rocked by two 5.4 magnitude earthquakes that were among the largest in the state’s recorded history. People reported feeling the quakes hours...
View ArticleBig oil had one of its biggest years ever in 2022
2022 was a very good year for the world’s major oil companies, and U.S. energy giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron were no exception. Both companies reported their most profitable quarters of all time...
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Red Texas is flush, blue California has a deficit, but it’s more about...
It’s that time of year when governors tell their states how much money they think they have and how they want to spend it. This week, we learned the two most populous states in the country are in very...
View ArticleHome heating oil prices have dropped from record highs
The price of home heating oil has fallen significantly, according to the Energy Information Administration. It’s down to $4.47 a gallon this week after hitting a record high of $5.93 per gallon in...
View ArticleOil tanker costs climb as Russia ties up system with longer routes
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had big impacts on world trade, from wheat to oil. After the European Union levied sanctions on Russian crude oil in December and on refined oil products in February,...
View ArticleSaudis are trying to prop up oil prices by lashing out at short sellers
It’s been almost exactly one year since the price of oil was at its highest point in a decade, thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s been coming down since then, so the Saudis and their allies...
View ArticleTo stay atop the oil market, OPEC became OPEC+. But keeping the cartel in...
In 1960, when Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq and Kuwait formed a cartel called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, together they produced more than half of the world’s...
View ArticleOil refiners have added capacity. That should reduce the risk of sticker...
You may recall that last year, while we were paying some of the highest prices ever at the gas pump, Marketplace (among others) pointed out that part of the problem was refining capacity. Namely, that...
View ArticleWhy the U.S. is a spoiler for OPEC’s plan to raise oil prices
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — the cartel also known as OPEC — has been working with allies to cut production this year. It’s all part of their effort to bolster global oil...
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A fraction of oil and gas profits would fund methane emissions cuts, global...
This earnings-reporting season, some of the world’s biggest energy companies have notched yet another quarter of robust profits, extending a streak that started last year when Russia’s invasion of...
View ArticleOPEC+ will extend supply cuts — but that doesn’t appear to be raising prices
OPEC+, the petroleum-producing cartel including Russia, met over the weekend and announced that it will extend some of its current voluntary supply cuts to try and keep global oil prices higher. With...
View ArticleA new report says worldwide oil demand will peak in 2029. Some oil industry...
Global oil demand will peak before the end of the decade, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. That moves the date of the projected peak from 2030 back to 2029. The oil...
View ArticleWhy most of the world still uses the U.S. dollar to buy and sell oil
Oil prices have been rising this month, and on average rising all this year. Part of that is the expectation that summer demand will be strong. Whatever the demand, most of it will be traded in...
View ArticleThe oil industry would like to know when global demand will peak. That’s hard...
Global demand for oil just keeps growing. It’s only fallen once in the past dozen years — in 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, it roared back. But as the world continues to...
View ArticleOil prices dip but still face plenty of upward pressure
The sell-off on Monday wasn’t limited to just stocks. Commodities took a hit too, particularly crude oil. Futures for West Texas Intermediate dipped below $72 a barrel today before regaining some...
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The economic war on Russia has been a grand experiment for sanctions
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been cut off from much of the global economy, with over 20,000 sanctions and other restrictions in place, according to Stephanie Baker, an investigative...
View ArticleFracking shifts U.S. oil production away from California
In June, California produced a daily average of 285,000 barrels of crude oil, according to new data from the Energy Information Administration. That’s the state’s lowest production of any month in the...
View ArticleWhat are sovereign wealth funds, and why are U.S. leaders interested?
Here’s an idea that leaders of both major U.S. political parties appear to be open to: a government-led fund that would invest in infrastructure, energy, technology, maybe some stocks and private...
View ArticleChina slows down growth in global oil demand
Global demand for oil is more than 100 million barrels per day. That number has inched up over the years, driven mostly by one country, China, which has seen two decades of new factories, a growing...
View ArticleOPEC postpones plans to increase production — again
Yet again, OPEC has postponed plans to increase oil production until at least the end of the year. That drove oil futures higher on Monday — West Texas Intermediate is trading around $71.50 a barrel....
View ArticleInternational Energy Agency predicts an oil surplus next year
“Drill, baby, drill” was one of President-elect Donald Trump’s mantras on the campaign trail. His promise: By expanding domestic energy production, especially oil and gas, he’d cut Americans’ energy...
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