Kurt Cobb is a freelance writer and communications consultant who writes frequently about energy and environment. His work has also appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Resilience, Le Monde Diplomatique, TalkMarkets, Investing.com, Business Insider and many other places. He is the author of an oil-themed novel entitled Prelude and has a widely followed blog called Resource Insights. He is currently a fellow of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions.
The $9.2 billion investors paid to snap up new equity offerings from U.S. oil companies in 2016 proves those investors are indeed ready for more…
"Down" is such a downer word. That's why when prices fall for practically anything Wall Street wants to sell you, Wall Streeters talk about volatility…
My favorite Texas oilman Jeffrey Brown is at it again. In a recent email he's pointing out to everyone who will listen that the supposed…
Many energy analysts like to make predictions at the end of the year for the coming year. Instead, I'll point to five possible surprises in…
The dramatic drop in oil prices has created what are called "zombie" companies, oil companies which can still afford to pay interest on huge debts,…
As the world mourns those who died in Paris last week in a killing spree for which the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)…
Let's see what those disparaging America's rate of recycling as "too high" either get completely wrong or fail to understand. You can read recent commentary…
We all know Goldilocks from the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in which the young maiden wanders into the home of the bears…
Wall Street’s buying of options--options on stocks, on commodities, on currencies, on almost anything--has been seen as a sucker's bet (unless you are doing it…
Yoram Bauman is the world's only "stand-up economist." He makes his living poking fun at his own profession. But he's dead serious about fighting climate…
They say that the first casualty of war is truth. And, on both sides of the fight over lifting the ban on exports of U.S.…
The characteristic feeling of the post-2008 world has been one of anxiety. Occasionally, that anxiety breaks out into fear as it did in the last…
Market fundamentalists tell us that prices convey information. Yet, while our barbers and hairdressers might be able to give us an extended account of why…
The plunge in oil prices last year led many to say that a decline in U.S. oil production wouldn't be far behind. This was because…
There's an old joke about lab rats in which the teller says he or she secretly suspects that all lab rats are prone to cancer…
Even the paper of record for the oil industry, Oil & Gas Journal, got it wrong. With the release of the latest BP Statistical Review…
Delayed gratification is said to be a sign of maturity. By that standard OPEC at age 55 demonstrated its maturity this week as it left…
Three recent news items remind us that energy transitions take time, a lot of time--far too much time to be shrunk down into a television…
Slowing productivity growth in the United States has been in the news in recent months. It has become a concern to policymakers because they believe…
Last year China reported the slowest economic growth in 24 years, about 7.4 percent. But the true figure may actually be much lower, and the…