Ever since Moscow decided to up the ante and invade the Crimean peninsula, shale gas reentered journalist lingo. Many have chipped in the debate, including Speaker of the House John Boehner who has argued that American gas is the sole remedy for Russia’s dominance of the European energy market. His diagnosis was that since natural […]
One of the year’s most urgent policy questions—whether or not the U.S. should export oil–is finally garnering attention in Washington as both sides of the U.S. oil export debate make their case. The United States began safeguarding domestically produced oil after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which caused supply disruptions and price spikes in the […]
Consider this striking paradox: Just as the Energy Information Administration announces that new shale discoveries are driving record increases in U.S. proved oil reserves and near-record additions in proved natural gas reserves, huge energy companies are reporting sagging production and profits. Royal Dutch Shell, for example, posted a 60 percent drop in second-quarter profits, largely because of drilling […]
The future is not what it used to be due to George P. Mitchell, the Texas wildcatter who passed away last week.* He helped usher in a new era of American dynamism by perfecting the hydraulic fracturing techniques (“fracking”) that have unlocked vast gas and oil deposits previously thought inaccessible within tightly-packed shale rock beds […]
A regular theme on this blog (here, here, here and here) is how the marked surge in U.S. oil and natural gas production over the past several years is reviving America’s strategic prospects. The energy boom, which is due largely to innovations in extraction technology – namely, hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and horizontal drilling – that […]
Amidst the host of this year’s forthcoming Twitterverse epitaphs will be yet another neoliberal linguistic invention (think along the same lines as previous ones: globalization and/or glocalization): fracking. Hydraulic fracturing (as it is formally known) is a mix of fracturing and cracking. It is the energy industry practice of exploding shale rock material thousands of meters […]
Given all the fanciful prognostications about how China is poised to eat America’s lunch, it might sound odd that the country’s new leader, Xi Jinping, is sloganeering about the need for national “rejuvenation” and “revival.” He is, of course, attempting to harness patriotic sentiments in order to boost the Communist Party’s eroding legitimacy. But his […]
A few quick updates are in order for a regular theme in this blog: Amid a torrent of extravagant prophesying about how China is poised to conquer the world, technological innovations and private entrepreneurs are actually rejuvenating America’s strategic prospects. As previous posts (here and here) have outlined, the marked surge in U.S. oil and […]
Honoring the vitality of America’s private sector The docket of whoever wins today’s presidential election will quickly fill up with unsolicited advice, so I’ll get mine in preemptively: When the White House decides on the next set of recipients for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian award – George P. Mitchell* […]
SDS-Ugol, a major coal producer in Russia, has announced plans to build a new seaport outside of Murmansk that will accommodate up to 18 million tons of coal exports a year. Many of the company’s coal mines are located in the Kuzbass region in Siberia. From there, much of the coal is shipped by rail […]
The energy boom upends arguments about the inevitability of U.S. strategic decline A previous post peered into the crystal ball to argue that America’s strategic prospects are dramatically brightening due to an unexpectedly improving energy outlook and the looming revitalization of its manufacturing base. This thesis cuts against the reigning anxiety about the nation’s economic course […]
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has drawn a ban in New York City’s watershed, and the New Jersey legislature is contemplating to prevent the transport of wastewater from fracking through the Garden State. What do we need to know about “fracking” to join an informed discussion? In general, all natural gas wells have their highest production rates once brought […]
I wanted to note some follow-up discussion to material that I have flagged here recently at the blog. The first was my post On the Denialists from March 2nd. The NY Review of Books has printed a reply to William Nordhaus’s refutation of the claims of the climate denialists, that I discussed at earlier post. […]
Why Not Frack? is the title of an article in a recent issue of the “NY Review of Books.” One of the best environmental journalists we’ve got, Bill McKibben, is the author. McKibben, of course, is more than just a journalist. He’s a ground-breaking thinker and, in recent years, a very serious and effective activist. […]
With the arrival of December, it’s time to check the rear-view mirror to see where we have been in order to have some clue as to where we are going. In the energy realm, 2011 was the Year of the Three Fs: Fukushima, Fracking and Finance. Japan is used to earthquakes, and the odd tsunami […]