Petroleum

Action would immediately help lower oil prices; save taxpayers money

January 11, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – To immediately address the high cost of energy, U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), and Norm Coleman (R-MN) are urging the Department of Energy to temporarily suspend filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).    » read more »

January 9, 2008 -- Yesterday was the 73rd anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley. One of his many hits was the song “Suspicious Minds.” On January 8, EIA released its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), which includes our first short-term forecast for 2009. The STEO projects a moderate decline in oil prices, starting in late 2008 and extending into 2009.    » read more »

Waiting for the Goods to Arrive

The internet has made holiday shopping much more convenient. From the comfort of their homes, consumers can do lots of research, make their decisions, put up the money, and then simply wait for the goods to arrive on their doorstep. But anxiety can increase as the holiday draws closer and consumers begin to wonder if the goods will arrive on time.    » read more »

Will Oil Prices Continue to Drop?

Despite an increase yesterday, the spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has dropped over the last three weeks, from nearly $100 per barrel on November 20, to under $90 per barrel for most of last week. So, will crude oil prices continue to drop, and if so, how low might they fall?    » read more »

Too Much Money?

A country music song performed by Daryle Singletary includes the lyrics, “Too much fun, what’s that mean? It's like too much money, there’s no such thing.” However, with current high fuel prices, many American drivers may feel that refiners’ earnings are too high.    » read more »

Where Being Above Average is Undesirable

Many readers are familiar with Garrison Keillor’s phrase used on radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion” series, “Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” The phrase points to the many times we hope and strive to be above average. But in some situations, we prefer below average. This is the case when it comes to local gasoline prices. Consumers would rather be in an area that has below-average prices.    » read more »

Over the River and Through the Woods

As the classic holiday song goes, many Americans will be heading to grandmother’s house or elsewhere tomorrow to share Thanksgiving dinner. However, since very few people will be traveling by horse-drawn sleigh this year, prospective holiday travelers are more likely to be eyeing gasoline prices and wondering just how dear this annual trip will be.    » read more »

Over the River and Through the Woods

As the classic holiday song goes, many Americans will be heading to grandmother’s house or elsewhere tomorrow to share Thanksgiving dinner. However, since very few people will be traveling by horse-drawn sleigh this year, prospective holiday travelers are more likely to be eyeing gasoline prices and wondering just how dear this annual trip will be.    » read more »

Recipe for Change

Like chefs who periodically change their favorite recipes to improve a dish or make use of ingredients that are most readily available and affordable in the current marketplace, petroleum refiners have been changing the recipe, or the component blendstock, of the motor gasoline pool since early 2006.

One of the primary reasons for this change stemmed from petroleum refiners’ decision to replace the gasoline blending component, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), with ethanol prior to the start of the 2006 summer driving season.    » read more »

Why Are Oil Prices So High?

November 7, 2007 -- One of the most discussed topics in the media today, besides the 2008 Presidential races, is the high price of oil. Crude oil prices have increased dramatically this year, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices climbing from an average of nearly $55 per barrel in January to over $95 per barrel at the beginning of this month.    » read more »

What Do We Really Know About College Football or Crude Oil Imports?

Unlike other prominent college football polls, which started issuing weekly polls before the first snap of the college football season, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) waited for about half the season to play out before issuing their inaugural rankings in mid-October. A comparison of the earlier polls and current rankings shows that some major changes have occurred as the season has unfolded.    » read more »

October 25, 2007 -- Handy new tools on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) redesigned Web sites for the Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center (AFDC) and the Clean Cities Program allow fleet managers and communities to make informed choices among strategies for reducing petroleum use.

The resources are located on the AFDC and Clean Cities Web sites, which are developed and managed by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.    » read more »

Defining Records

With oil prices recently reaching new nominal highs, some are interested in knowing how current prices for crude oil stand in relation to all-time record prices on an inflation-adjusted basis. A wide variety of measurements suggests that “record” inflation-adjusted prices for crude oil occurred in the early 1980s. However, there are two major issues when trying to arrive at an inflation-adjusted record crude oil price: 1) what historical price you use for crude oil, and 2) the price index used to adjust for inflation.    » read more »

17 October 2007 -- Energy experts from around the world have gathered in Houston for a three-day conference on the issue of peak oil, which involves predictions that world oil production will soon reach its peak and then go into decline. This could cause a global economic crisis since demand for energy is not expected to slow, but, in fact, is expanding rapidly.    » read more »

16 October 2007 -- Oil prices hit new record highs Tuesday on heightened concerns about a potential Turkish incursion into northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels.

The price of U.S. crude for November delivery settled up $1.48 at a record $87.61 per barrel. Earlier, the price climbed as high as $88.20.

Dealers say there is concern that an escalation of fighting along the Turkish-Iraqi border could affect oil production and pipelines in northern Iraq. They say another factor driving up the prices is low supplies of oil in the United States and other consumer nations heading into winter.    » read more »