natural gas

shale oil production

Affordable natural gas – possible thanks to fracking and shale – is spurring a U.S. manufacturing renaissance – in this case, attracting investment in this country from foreign companies.[read more]

Coal mine via Shutterstock

The historic shift from coal to natural gas in the U.S. electric power sector may be stalling out, according to the latest forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.[read more]

court ruling/shutterstock

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lacks jurisdiction to enforce a $30 million fine against accused natural gas market manipulator Brian Hunter.[read more]

methane/shutterstock

Japan produced natural gas from offshore methane hydrates Tuesday, a breakthrough with potentially explosive consequences for both global energy markets and the effort to tackle climate change.[read more]

US carbon emissions

Besides further increasing renewable energy supplies and increasing energy efficiency, can U.S. total carbon emissions be substantially reduced without increased lower carbon natural gas?[read more]

While the White House talks again about raising taxes on oil and natural gas companies, let’s look at the starkly different outcomes – in terms of revenue for government – from two policy paths.[read more]

While there’s talk in Washington of an all-of-the-above approach to energy, there’s much to be done in applying that concept to our outer continental shelf oil and natural gas reserves.[read more]

People want to know what has been driving the price of gas recently.[read more]

Just as the history of unconventional natural gas production in America was fundamentally shaped by government support for new technology development, so too will the future of natural gas depend on America's willingness to make long-term public investments in advanced energy technologies. A convenient narrative has taken hold concerning...[read more]

Clean Energy Fuels gets $150M in investmentClean Energy Fuels Corp., a leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, said it has received $150 million from investors, including Boone Pickens. The investments resulted from the exercise of Mr. Pickens’ warrants to purchase 15 million shares of the company’s...[read more]

 Here are my choices for the Top 10 energy related stories of 2011. Don’t get too hung up on the relative rankings. They are mostly in no particular order, although I think the top story is pretty obvious.  1. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster On March 11, 2011 the tsunami that flooded Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear...[read more]

The technological revolution allowing for the cheap extraction of natural gas from shale occurred thanks to more than three decades of government subsidies for research, demonstration, and production, a new Breakthrough Institute investigation finds. Both directly and indirectly, the government was behind the critical moments and tools...[read more]

In the Washington Post the folks at the Breakthrough Institute try to learn us some history about the shale gas boom. Maybe you think the shale gas boom was some big surprise suddenly made real after the decades-long work of a hard-headed oil and gas guy – George Mitchell – willing to spend millions of dollars on the crazy idea that...[read more]

In the months and years to come, post-Fukushima, people who influence power plant construction decisions will be making choices that will have a large impact on future generations. In this reflective time of the year, it is important to gather the most accurate lessons learned and to offer some food for thought about the motives that...[read more]

My professional work habits and standards were formed by 33 years in the US naval service, an organization with a proud tradition of developing independent decision makers who could be entrusted with billions of dollars worth of national assets and thousands of lives. Our tradition includes demanding training, strong mentoring programs,...[read more]