Tag

oil

International, Podcast

Outlook for Energy in Mexico

January 11, 2019

A new president took office in Mexico on December 1. Andrés López Obrador easily won Mexico’s presidential election on July 1 as a populist representing a party he founded four years ago. His nation’s energy future is among the critical issues he will face. On this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless interviews Amb. Carlos Pascual, a senior vice president at IHS Markit, where he concentrates on worldwide energy issues and international affairs. Carlos served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 2009 to 2011 and to Ukraine from 2000 to 2003. At the U.S. State Department, he established and directed the agency’s Energy Resources Bureau as a special envoy and coordinator for international affairs from 2011 to 2014. He is also a non-resident fellow at CGEP. Bill caught up with Carlos recently during a trip Carlos made…

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by Bill Loveless
Environment, Oil, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Oil Drilling in Cuba

March 27, 2018

Will Cuba try to drill again for oil off its coast any time soon? And if it does, how safely will it be done? And what happens if there is a spill? In this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast, I was pleased to sit down with a foremost expert on Cuba, Dan Whittle of the Environmental Defense Fund, to discuss ongoing efforts by Cuba and the U.S. to promote safe oil drilling despite new political tensions between Washington and Havana. We sat down outside a conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., organized by Lee Hunt and Brian Petty, two former officials of the International Association of Drilling Contractors. Let me know what you think!

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by Bill Loveless
Energy, Environment, Podcast, Policy

Columbia Energy Exchange: Trump on Energy, Environment So Far

January 23, 2018

President Trump came into office one year ago promising to “Make America Great Again” by turning upside down the policies of his predecessors, including those involving energy and the environment. Some would say he’s been as effective in leaving his mark in these areas as anywhere else. To take stock of the Trump administration effect on energy and environmental policies, I turned to two of the leading journalists covering the topic in Washington: Lisa Friedman of the New York Times and Steve Mufson of the Washington Post. Listen here to this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange, and let me know what you think!

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by Bill Loveless
Energy, Podcast, Policy

Columbia Energy Exchange: Spencer Abraham

November 20, 2017

America’s energy fortunes have certainly changed over the past dozen years or so. Just that recently, the nation’s ability to satisfy its oil and natural gas appetite at home was uncertain, and reliance on foreign supplies seemed likely to increase. How times have changed! Today, the U.S. is once again a world leader in oil and gas production, even exporting oil for the first time in decades and gas for the first time ever. This turnabout has happened as solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy gain ground in the U.S., as their costs decline. And combined with gas, they are forcing old coal and nuclear power plants to go out of business. What have we learned from this shift in energy fortunes? And has U.S. energy policy kept pace with the changes? In a new Columbia Energy Exchange…

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by Bill Loveless
Podcast, Policy

Columbia Energy Exchange: Bill Richardson

July 6, 2017

Few people in public service can tote up the career resume of Bill Richardson, especially when it comes to energy policy. So, I thought it just made sense to invite him on the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast to discuss what he thinks of the Trump administration and its approach to energy policy. Richardson’s 40 years of experience include stints as a member of the House of Representatives from New Mexico, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and energy secretary during the Clinton administration, and governor of New Mexico. He’s also been a Democratic candidate for president and the negotiator of difficult talks with North Korea, Cuba, Iraq and Sudan that resulted in the release of hostages and American servicemen. Oh, and need I mention his four nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and his three books, including one called “How to…

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by Bill Loveless
Corporations, Energy, Podcast

Columbia Energy Exchange: Centrica CEO Iain Conn

June 24, 2017

Disruption is widespread in energy industries around the world today, and success or failure in dealing with that change often depends on who’s running a company. In this episode of the “Columbia Energy Exchange,” I talk with Iain Conn, the chief executive of  Centrica, a multi-national company based in the United Kingdom, whose roots go back as far as 1812. Conn, who joined Centrica in 2015 after spending 29 years at the oil major BP, is repositioning Centrica from exploration and production and central power generation to what he calls “customer-facing” businesses, a move he says makes sense given fluctuations taking place in energy markets. We talked about that transformation during one of his visits to Washington as well as about world oil markets, Brexit, climate change and Donald Trump.      

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by Bill Loveless
Climate, Oil, Podcast, Policy, Shale

Columbia Energy Exchange: Chevron CEO John Watson

April 11, 2017

Host Bill Loveless talks with John Watson, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Chevron Corporation, the second largest integrated oil company in the United States. Bill and John spoke in Washington, D.C. about topics including: the outlook for oil and natural gas markets; climate change and the role of energy companies; the breakdown of public discourse on energy issues; and the Trump Administration, free trade, tax reform and energy policy. Listen.

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by Bill Loveless
Blog, Oil, Shale

Amid shale revival, don’t forget oil bounty offshore

April 5, 2017

Given their extensive oil and natural gas capacity and their accessibility, U.S. shale reserves are increasingly the investment of choice for producers. Integrated oil companies like Chevron are making that clear as they plan to spend more on areas like the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. But don’t rule out a comeback for oil buried deep beneath offshore waters. A new report by the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie says the deepwater industry is emerging leaner and more cost-competitive from the slump in oil prices that began in 2014, especially in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. On average, the costs of deepwater projects have fallen by just over 20% since 2014, the Scotland-based consultancy says. Assuming a 15% rate of return for producers, 5 billion barrels of deepwater reserves now break even at $50 per barrel or less. By…

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by Bill Loveless
Article, Corporations, Economy / Finance, Government and Politics

Oil and gas exec Gerard is pumped about prospects under Trump

January 8, 2017

For Jack Gerard, the outlook for U.S. energy security has never been brighter, with domestic supplies of oil and natural gas increasing, dependence on foreign supplies declining and a new Republican president and Congress keen on promoting fossil fuels. “In this new year and at the start of this new Congress, we have an opportunity to change the national conversation when it comes to energy policy,” the president of the American Petroleum Institute said the other day in his annual “State of American Energy” speech in Washington. (Read More)

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by Bill Loveless
Article, Climate, Corporations, Energy, Government and Politics

What Trump’s pro-drilling stance means for oil, gas industry

November 13, 2016

The election of Donald Trump as president raises the  hopes of oil and natural gas producers, thanks to his full-throated support for the removal of regulations that many say hamper the industry. Only time will tell if the Republican’s policies will provide much more of a boost to U.S. oil and gas, which has rallied in recent years thanks to technologies that enable production from previously untapped shale reserves. Moreover, it’s price, not government regulation, that really determines the extent of oil and gas exploration and production, as Thomas Watters, a managing director with S&P Global Ratings, observed the other day. (Read more)

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by Bill Loveless