Eighty-five million barrels a day. That’s the most that can be produced. So when recession causes a temporary decrease in world consumption, it can seem like those 85 million barrels are enough. But consumption is bound to resume its upward climb, while those 85 million barrels a day are all we ...read more

Marcio Mello, the former explorationist from Petrobras (PBR: NYSE) and now independent petroleum consultant, electrified the Denver meeting of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO). In a riveting talk that lasted well over an hour, Marcio detailed the immense petroleum potential of offshore Brazil, as well ...read more

It's not only the energy markets that threaten the 'low inflation' data now encouraging bondholders to keep buying... The published inflation data are surprisingly unsophisticated in so far as they compare current prices with a snapshot a year earlier. Just over a year ago, oil was every hedge fund manager's favorite speculation. ...read more

Each year, generally in May, the Energy Information Administration publishes a less-than-eagerly-anticipated tome called the International Energy Outlook, 250+ pages of mind-numbing text, charts, graphs, and tables. No one reads it. The mainstream media ignore it. It’s the product of the best prognosticators in the Department of Energy. Okay, that may be ...read more

Always follow the oil market closely, because it will impact the fundamentals of many businesses -- including those we are selling short. Drivers in the U.S. no longer determine the global price of oil. So oil prices can remain high despite a weak labor market -- as we saw in the ...read more

Recently, I had the unique opportunity to tour two different oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta. I saw a massive open-pit oil sands mine, and the associated reclamation effort, operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. I also visited an in situ oil sands recovery project called Surmont, operated ...read more

A couple of weeks ago I was in Fort McMurray, Alberta.  I was visiting two large oil sands operations, courtesy of Conoco Phillips, Syncrude Canada and the American Petroleum Institute, which sponsored the trip.  I’ve been all over the place, but never to a working oil sands operation.  This was ...read more

Can plaintiffs in a lawsuit generate infinite favorable publicity, yet have virtually no substance to back up their claims?  The Amazon Defense Coalition (ADC) has found a way to play into many peoples’ concerns about oil companies—but with very little substance behind their accusations.  ADC is shaking down Chevron for ...read more

There I was, surrounded by thousands of barrels of Kentucky’s finest -- seemingly, enough bourbon to get every of-age taxpayer in the U.S. a little tipsy. By any stretch of the imagination, this place was paradise. Rolling hills as far as you could see and the air was thick with ...read more

"It's only gas," said the geologists. And wow, were they ever frustrated… The year was 1959. The geologists were in the Netherlands, near a small town named Groningen, at the southern edge of the North Sea. They worked for Shell and Esso (now Exxon Mobil) and were drilling a well. Instead ...read more