Energy

Brazil’s Troubled Petrobras Becomes Hot Political Potato

by Oilprice.com •  • Comments Off on Brazil’s Troubled Petrobras Becomes Hot Political Potato

Petrobras is the world’s most indebted and least profitable oil major. It has $114.3 billion in debt. Production stagnates. Its shares have lost half their value since 2010. It’s embroiled in scandals. And President Dilma Rousseff is on the hook.

America And Oil: This Chart Shows Why OPEC’s Knees Are Trembling

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on America And Oil: This Chart Shows Why OPEC’s Knees Are Trembling

What would have been a demented propagandist’s flight of fancy a decade ago has become reality: For the first time in history, the US imports more oil from our dear and reliable neighbor Canada than from OPEC. With major consequences.

Russia Loses Leverage with China on ‘Holy-Grail’ Gas Deal

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Russia’s primary energy customer is Europe, which is now planning sanctions. That has accelerated the natural gas deal Russia is trying to hammer out with China. But they’ve been negotiating for years, the biggest sticking point being price!

DOJ Extracts $5 Billion from Anadarko “for 85 years of poisoning the earth”

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It “tried to keep its rewards and shed its responsibilities by playing a corporate shell game, putting its oil-and-gas business in a new entity and leaving behind a bankrupt shell” with environmental liabilities of defunct, polluting businesses.

A US-Saudi Move to Lower Oil Prices To Punish Russia?

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That the US could unleash a flood of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to drive down prices has been pushed for weeks, most recently by George Soros, but has been dismissed as not a serious option. Then Obama went to Saudi Arabia.

Boss, We Got a Situation in Natural Gas

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Boss, We Got a Situation in Natural Gas

This winter, polar vortices sent the price of natural gas into dizzying spikes and plunges, head fakes, and whiplash-inducing turnarounds. But now winter is petering out, and we’re left with a peculiar situation.

Shell Oil: US Fracking “Revolution” A Money Loser

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Shell is already steeped in its Alaska offshore debacle. Now its new boss admitted that fracking in the US, after a huge investment, is a money-losing business.

Obama’s Fantasy: Using US Energy ‘Boom’ Against Russia

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The release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve took down the price of oil in the US, but not in the rest of the world, and didn’t impact Russia. New measures are bandied about – ludicrous attempts by the government to flex some muscle.

Loophole Makes Hilarious Mockery Of US Crude Oil Export Ban

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Loophole Makes Hilarious Mockery Of US Crude Oil Export Ban

Washington is tangled up in spirited bouts of mudwrestling over exporting US crude oil, prohibited since the Arab oil embargo. Big Oil, environmentalists, consumer groups, lobbyists, lawmakers – they’re all at it. Yet, exports of “petroleum products” are soaring.

Shale Oil & Gas: Not a Revolution But a Retirement Party

by Oilprice.com •  • Comments Off on Shale Oil & Gas: Not a Revolution But a Retirement Party

This winter, things have begun to unravel. Natural gas inventories are near their 2003 low. Sure, weather is the main factor, but that’s always the case. The truth is that supply has not been able to meet winter demand, period. It’s a fact that is inconsistent with the fairy tales we continue to hear about cheap, abundant gas forever.