Energy Archives - Page 3 of 16

Don’t be so Quick to Judge Nuclear Power

Let us for a second imagine a world without nuclear energy. That is a tough one but let us try. No nuclear bombs, of course, no Chernobyl and Fukushima, no worries about Iran and North Korea. A wonderful world, maybe?

Probably not, because without nuclear energy we would have burned millions more tons of coal and billions more barrels of oil. This would have brought about climate change of such proportions that what we have today would have seemed negligible.

Iran May Reach Oil Deal with Kurdistan

Iran and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are on the verge of solidifying a deal exporting up to 250,000 a day of oil to Tehran, according to Al Jazeera. KRG is an autonomous region of Iraq, and Iranian authorities stressed that the deal will not go through without approval from Baghdad. Turkey is a major recipient of KRG oil, but has made no comment about KRG-Iranian talks.

An Oil Drilling and Service Catch 22

The impact of rising oil prices on North American light tight oil (LTO) production is said to be a “Catch 22”, the title of Joseph Heller’s popular 1961 novel set in WWII. The premise was you could get out of the army if you were crazy but you weren’t crazy to try to get out of the army. Therefore, this avenue to escape the war didn’t work for the book’s main character John Yossarian

Uranium Bottom: Are We There Yet?

With prices set to double by 2018, we’ve seen the bottom of the uranium market, and the negative sentiment that has followed this resource around despite strong fundamentals, is starting to change.

Billionaire investors sense it, and they’re always the first to anticipate change and take advantage of the rally before it becomes a reality. The turning point is where all the money is made, and there are plenty of indications that the uranium recovery is already underway.

Oil Slips off an 11-Month High

Oil prices reached their highest level in eleven months in the middle of last week. The front-month futures contract did not post a key reversal on June 9, but the continuation contract did. Since reaching almost $51.70, prices have pushed lower, with lower highs and lower lows.

Nearly Double the Price, but Only Halfway Back

With today’s gains, the price of Brent has nearly doubled from its lows in January. Of course, the price of oil is still less than half of levels that prevailed two years ago. At the same time, many leveraged investors cast a jaundiced eye toward currency pegs. Many have concluded that the Middle East currency pegs cannot be sustained.

How could Fossil Fuel Divestment be Bad?

The global divestment movement is gaining steam. This involves investors like city councils, pension funds and universities publicly withdrawing their assets from coal, oil and gas companies – those that produce fossil fuels.

OPEC: Higher Prices, but not Higher Hopes

Just a couple months ago, some were declaring the old oil order dead after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) failed to agree on coordinated action at its April meeting in Doha.

OPEC Meeting: I’ve Got Expectations in Low Places

OPEC ministers meet in Vienna tomorrow. Expectations could hardly be lower. Attempts to agree on an output freeze were stymied by the Saudi’s insistence that is rival Iran participates as well. Iran cannot agree to limit its production yet, or it would have sacrificed (or postponed) it nuclear program for naught.

Could Cuts Now Create Oil Production Supply Reductions Later?

Total global oil production could decline for the next several years in a row as scarce new sources of supply come online. According to data from Rystad Energy, overall global oil output will fall this year as natural depletion overwhelms all new sources of supply. However, the deficit will only widen in the years ahead due to the dramatic scaling back in spending on new exploration and development.

Statoil says that global capex is set to fall for two years in a row, and is on track to fall for a third year in 2017 as more spending cuts are likely.