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At a recent event hosted by the Hudson Institute, energy professionals gathered to discuss energy issues affecting both the United States and China, with significant discussion centering on how low oil prices generally correlate with economic prosperity and stability – and vice versa. It is projected that China’s oil import dependence will rise from 60% in 2013 to 75% in 2035 and that, in the next 15 years, China will overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest oil consumer. Like the U.S., China’s sustained economic growth is directly influenced by the price of oil. Although crude oil price spikes are… [more]
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A report, “Fuel Choice for American Prosperity,” recently published by the United States Energy Security Council (USESC), a group within the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), identifies challenges facing the United States’ pursuit of energy security. Despite oil imports expected to fall to their lowest level since 1987 (EIA), the total amount of money the U.S. spends on oil imports has increased. If energy security is defined as “reliable supply at an affordable price,” as the report’s authors define, the U.S. has improved the former, but failed to impact global oil prices, which have risen more than… [more]
View InsightIn a recent research note, Swiss bank UBS AG expressed uncertainty about the economic impacts of surging U.S. oil and gas production. While the domestic energy boom is widely thought of as an unequivocal economic driver, UBS analysts suggest that it may not be that straightforward. [E&E News (Sub. Req’d.)] If the current U.S. oil and gas boom – which is driving domestic supply up and prices down – is sustained, UBS projects, it could spur marginal economic growth of around 0.8% annually over the next five years. However, increased U.S. oil supply would reduce the need for imported oil,… [more]
View InsightThe Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has released a report titled “Keystone XL: A Tar Sands Pipeline to Increase Oil Prices,” arguing that the Keystone XL pipeline will increase gas prices in the United States. The report argues that the pipeline would take Canadian crude oil that has historically gone to Midwest refineries – which produce gasoline sold to U.S. consumers – and divert it to refineries in the Gulf Coast of Texas, which historically have produced diesel that is exported internationally. Diesel fuel has over the past few years become more expensive in non-U.S. markets, providing an incentive for… [more]
View InsightLast week, House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved separate and distinct versions of a Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill. The legislation sets spending levels for DOE, among other agencies, and specific programs such as the State Energy Program (SEP). The SEP is administered by DOE, and provides funding to states for use by State Energy Offices. According to the National Association of State Energy Officers (NASEO), with “SEP funds and the resources leveraged by them, the 56 State and Territory Energy Offices develop and manage strategic programs that support the private sector in increasing energy efficiency,… [more]
View InsightThis month OPEC, the intergovernmental affiliation of twelve oil-producing countries, released two different estimates for its members’ monthly crude production. The first estimated 31.2m b/d in February, and relied on secondary sources, as OPEC estimates have traditionally done since 1986. The significantly higher second estimate of 32.1m b/d relied on direct internal reporting from OPEC member countries. The estimates’ disparity casts doubt on the accuracy of OPEC’s reporting. OPEC accounts for 44% of world oil supply. In an article for Platts, Richard Swann explains “OPEC crude production estimates are undoubtedly among the world’s most important pieces of oil market data.… [more]
View InsightA recent Congressional Research Service report titled “Rising Gasoline Prices 2012” states that Congress has “limited short term options … to address gasoline prices.” The report identifies six short-run policy options – a Strategic Petroleum Reserve release, a gasoline tax holiday, relaxed fuel specifications, limits on refined gasoline exports, limits on commodities speculation, and diplomatic measures – and concludes that it is unclear “what the price impact of these short term options would be” and that they would involve policy tradeoffs which may include “national security, fiscal, and health priorities.” The report briefly addresses longer-term policy options, i.e. “measures that… [more]
View InsightAccording to data collected and reported by Bloomberg News, the “U.S. is the closest it has been in almost 20 years to achieving energy self-sufficiency”. In the first 10 months of 2011, 81% of U.S. energy demand was met by domestic sources, up from a record low of 70% in 2005. If the 2011 numbers are accurate, this would be the highest proportion of U.S. energy demand met by domestic sources since 1992. This upward trend in energy self-sufficiency is due in large part to increased oil and natural gas development, and low natural gas prices. “Domestic oil output is… [more]
View InsightLast Wednesday, the Obama administration officially denied approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. A rider included by the GOP in the payroll tax plan President Obama signed last month required the Administration to decide on the pipeline within a 60-day window. In rejecting the pipeline, the White House said “imposing an arbitrary 60-day deadline on this process would make it virtually impossible for an adequate review [of the pipeline] to take place.” House Speaker John Boehner criticized the decision saying “President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese. [There’s] no… [more]
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Micro-Utilities, Inc.
A number of studies have shown that high oil prices have been a major factor in causing recessions in the United States. The cause of previous high oil prices has often been tied to events such as strikes in oil producing nations (e.g. Venezuela), wars (Iraq invading Kuwait, the Iran/Iraq war, the Gulf war), oil embargoes (Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations cutting off oil supplies to countries that supported Israel in the Yom Kippur war), and revolutions like the Iranian revolution. In one form or another all of these events could be grouped together as political events that caused high… [more]
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