8 item(s) were returned.
Associate Director for Energy Security
Bipartisan Policy Center
OurEnergyPolicy.org has partnered with the Bipartisan Policy Center for Navigating the Oil Frontier: The Implications of the Tight Oil Boom on Arctic and Ultra-Deepwater Oil Development, to be held Monday April 21st at the Washington Court Hotel. This discussion is a digital extension of that event. With the onset of the U.S. tight oil boom, the growth of Canadian oil sands production, and the prospects for expanded Mexican oil production, expectations about future oil supply have shifted from traditional OPEC oil producers to countries whose oil production had previously been declining. The reduction of Arctic ice and development of deep-water… [more]
View Insight
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 Insight
The crude oil price spikes and high fuel costs experienced in the U.S. over the past ten years have encouraged many attempts to identify the underlying causes of these trends. Diminishing oil resources, slowing rates and increasing costs of production, financial speculation and geopolitics are all common arguments used to explain the recent volatile price changes in oil. But is there a correct answer? According to a recent MIT study, one theory can be ruled out: financial speculation. “We show speculation had little, if any, effect on prices and volatility,” and may have even decreased prices, wrote the authors of… [more]
View Insight
President
Micro-Utilities, Inc.
Are the United States and other countries facing a looming threat of another oil-related recession? Prior to the economic crash in 2008 the price of oil steadily increased. As the world margin between supply and world demand approached zero, oil prices rose. When this margin went to zero, oil prices hit $147/barrel and the recession began. Unlike many politically initiated oil recessions of the past, a major recession trigger in 2008 was a “physically” initiated event — the disappearance of the margin between world supply and demand. Physically initiated oil recessions do not have the post-peak, national, debt-free “stimulus package”… [more]
View InsightIn the second presidential debate of 2012 an attendee asked President Obama, “Your energy secretary, Steven Chu, has now been on record three times stating ‘It’s not policy of this department to help lower gas prices.’ Do you agree with Secretary Chu, that this is not the job of the Energy Department?” The question went essentially unanswered as both candidates took the opportunity instead to promote their energy platforms. The answer to this question may be simple, as OurEnergyPolicy.org Expert Joel Brown explains in a tweet: “The unanswered question answered: the DOE does NOT have the charge to lower gasoline… [more]
View Insight
With oil playing such an important role in transportation, energy, and manufacturing worldwide, supply disruptions pose a serious threat to the global economy and political stability. Earlier this year, the Herzliya Conference convened a group of experts and practitioners from a range of specialties around the world to participate in a war-game that examined a possible oil-shortage scenario: a global oil crisis initiated by a terrorist attack on the Saudi Arabian Abqaiq oil facility. Under the conditions of the simulation six million barrels of oil per day were removed from global markets, resulting in a shortage of millions of barrels… [more]
View InsightSome analysts have projected gasoline prices to go as high as $5/gallon over the coming months, noting a world-wide crunch of spare oil production capacity, rising demand from developing countries, and typically high U.S. demand during summer months. Recently, however, some analysts have suggested that U.S. gasoline prices may have peaked for 2012, and recent surveys from AAA and DOE suggest gas prices have slipped this week, which may in part be a result of worse-than-expected economic news out of the U.S., Europe, and China. The national average retail price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.90 as of April… [more]
View Insight
In a Yardeni Research blog post highlighted by an article in the New York Times, economist Ed Yardeni argued that rising oil prices “may actually be good for the best stocks and shares ISA market, up to a point.” This is due, in part, to energy sector companies like Chevron and Exxon making up more than 12% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization. Yardeni notes that since late 2008 there has been “a strong positive correlation between energy prices and the stock market.” If prices continue to rise, however, the odds of that positive effect lasting diminishes. “At some point,”… [more]
View Insight