Petroleum

Saudi plans to raise oil prices may inadvertently accelerate the growth of the electric vehicle market.

Trump slams OPEC cartel over higher oil prices; Does he fear Carterization?

Donald Trump slammed OPEC on Friday, complaining the cartel was keeping crude oil prices high.

Iran formally switches from dollar to euro

Middle East Monitor | – – Iran’s feud with the US is set to get worse after Tehran announced yesterday that it will start reporting foreign currency amounts in euros rather than US dollars, as part of the country’s effort to reduce its reliance on the American currency due to political tension with Washington. Central […]

Petroleum

Why Electric Cars are Better: Massive Keystone Pipeline Oil Leak Twice as bad as Thought

contributors

TeleSur | – – The spill gave further ammunition to environmental groups and other U.S. opponents of another pipeline the company has proposed, the long-delayed Keystone XL. The Keystone crude oil pipeline leak in November in rural South Dakota was nearly double the original estimate, making it one of the largest U.S. inland spills since […]

Denialism

How Trump’s Gutting of Tailpipe Standards will make China Auto Leader Worldwide

contributors

By Greg Dotson | (The Conversation) | – – The Trump administration on Monday, April 2, took steps to ease pollution and efficiency rules for new passenger cars and trucks, giving automakers a reprieve from more stringent Obama-era standards. But in the process, the move could yield global leadership in the auto sector to the […]

China

Could China oil Exchange & Green Energy pull the plug on the Dollar?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Kate Duguid at Reuters reports the alarm at UBS that China’s new oil futures exchange will hurt the standing of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. That development in turn would start the reverse snowball down the hill, with the dollar falling against other currencies, […]

Donald Trump

Pompeo, Big Oil and the attack on Iran Deal

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – All you need to know about Mike Pompeo, the four-term congressman from Kansas who is actually from California, is that most of his life he has been in business with the Koch brothers. His appointment as Secretary of State puts a seal on Trump’s withdrawal from […]

Corruption

Blood oil: more than half of the oil traded across the world has been stolen

Juan Cole

By Leif Wenar | (The Conversation) | – – Donald Trump tweeted something true recently. Responding to the protests in Iran, the US president stated that “The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered.” Trump’s point is correct: what vice-president Mike Pence called Iran’s “unelected […]

Environment

EVs are Better: Iranian oil tanker in East China Sea could burn for a month

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – The stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea could burn for as long as one month, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told Reuters on Wednesday, as the blaze raged for a fourth day following a collision with a freight ship. Dozens of rescue boats battled […]