At the base rate, the U.S. military pays about the same as the rest of us for gasoline, under $3 a gallon. But the costs quickly escalate when you factor in the expenses related to getting fuel where it needs to go, and the often rugged, isolated places American forces need to use their vehicles. […]
Mac Margolis at BloombergView has a good analysis of Brazil’s ethanol industry, which details how “clever sugar and ethanol makers” have been hamstrung by the country’s bureaucracy. Some 60 ethanol plants have shuttered this year alone and “blue slips,” Brazil’s unemployment notices, are multiplying: Nearly half of the more than 36,000 industrial jobs erased last […]
Saudi Arabia isn’t cutting production anytime soon, despite lobbying from some of the 12-nation cartel’s members to try to stem falling oil prices. In fact, the Saudis might actually boost output to gain new customers. Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said it’s not in OPEC’s interest to cut production quotas no […]
This is something we knew already: Oil prices fluctuate. Like all commodities, prices go up, and then they go down, and few experts know exactly why, or how far, or for how long trends will endure. But FiveThirtyEight.com’s Ben Casselman, who used to cover the oil patch for The Wall Street Journal, outlines (in typical […]
We’ve heard a lot about psychology in oil prices lately. Some stories mention the “psychological” threshold of $60 a barrel. Well, many psyches were put on edge this week, as Brent crude closed below that mark on Tuesday and Thursday, territory it hadn’t seen since May 2009. But it surged $2.11 to $61.38 Friday, a […]
Drivers are loving life whenever they fill up at the gas station. According to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report, the national average Thursday was $2.477 for regular 87-octane gas. That’s down 23 percent from the same time last year, when the average was $3.216. So why haven’t air travelers seen similar savings on airline tickets? After […]
New York state has banned hydraulic fracturing, the drilling technique known as fracking, citing risks to the state’s air and water, as well as other potential harmful effects on people’s health. The decision was announced by the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had sent mixed signals previously about his intentions. The New York Times […]
Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas has been bullish on Tesla Motors. But he added to the company’s woes Wednesday when he slashed its sales outlook in the face of falling oil prices. Jonas predicts that the luxury electric-car maker will only be able to sell 300,000 vehicles by 2020. Cheap gas prices could be partly […]
The Washington Post has a story about what falling oil prices has achieved for President Obama’s foreign-policy goals: The precipitous fall in oil prices, which is hammering countries heavily dependent upon oil exports, could prod Russia into abiding by a ceasefire in Ukraine, make Iran more pliable in talks over its nuclear program, undercut Venezuela’s […]
President Obama on Tuesday pulled Alaska’s Bristol Bay from consideration for federal oil and gas leases. As AP reported: The decision announced Tuesday under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act means no leases will be sold for petroleum drilling in the area. The bay provides 40 percent of America’s wild seafood and supports up […]
