John Arnold isn’t one for the spotlight. The former Enron oil and natural gas trader turned his intelligence and bonuses into a much respected energy trading firm, Centaurus. Considered the country’s youngest billionaire, he’s also known as very private and low-key. That’s why his scheduled appearance to testify before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission next [...]  More »

Creating ex nihilo – literally, out of nothing – used to be a theological concept, God’s prerogative. Today it seems, President Obama and certain Western politicians claim to possess the ability to do it. Against all the laws of economics and the marketplace, President Obama and others believe they can create millions of “green” jobs [...]  More »

The program to pay folks to trade in old, fuel in-efficient vehicles for new ones (which some have called nothing more than an automakers bailout) is close to running out of funds, so Congress wants to keep it going. Sounds easy, right? Maybe not, say the guys at FBR Research. The House might move $2 [...]  More »

The final installment in our series of Q&As with Houston execs willing to share a few things with us around our annualexecutive pay survey , which ran last weekend. Today’s executive: Peter Kinnear, Chairman, President and CEO, FMC Technologies. Peter D. Kinnear, President and CEO of FMC Technologies. (Steve Campbell/ Chronicle) Q: When you were [...]  More »

• Exxon and Shell both report big drops in profits, but one just shrugs while the other plans more cuts. • Apache rolls strong with record production numbers. • Teppco profits down on volumes (buy so it goes for everyone else). And the good people of Decatur Co., Tenn. get to talk about a new [...]  More »

Austin is usually the Texas town getting kudos for being green on the energy front (despite hiccups), but Houston shouldn’t be counted out so fast. Some of the panels on the U.S. 59 side of the GRB. (Courtesy of Standard Renewable Energy) The city today formally unveils a 600 solar panel pilot project on the [...]  More »

• ConocoPhillips profits crash 76 percent to $1.3 billion as refining loss swamps production gain. Revenue of 50 percent . • More cuts coming at Shell as it sees the recovery not coming anytime soon. Net income dropped to $3.8 billion from $11.6 billion last year as cuts planned to “add more value.” Less is [...]  More »

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit clarified its prior decision blocking the government’s five-year Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas exploration leasing plan, saying it only applied to leases in Alaskan waters. That means plans for more lease sales off Texas and Louisiana can move forward. The court’s ruling earlier [...]  More »

With more than $110 billion in federal stimulus funding headed for infrastructure projects in the coming years one might expect construction firms clamoring to get in line for their share. Perhaps, but Stephen O’Neal, a partner with the law firm Howrey, tells us there’s some potential downside to that money as well. Federal stimulus funds [...]  More »

Another installment in our (short) series of Q&As with Houston execs willing to share a few things with us around our annual executive pay survey , which ran this past weekend. Bernard Duroc-Danner, Chairman, President and CEO, Weatherford. Today’s executive: Bernard Duroc-Danner, Chairman, president and CEO, Weatherford International: Q: When you were a child, what [...]  More »

• BP cuts will be felt in Houston as it ups cost cutting plans for ’09 to $3 billion with a focus on suppliers who it says are still charging too much. The FT’s take focuses on Hayward warning of a ‘drawn out’ recovery. But don’t worry too much, BP has it’s foot in the [...]  More »

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to release a report saying speculators had a big role in last year’s oil price run-up (although CFTC chair Gensler just told our own Jennifer Dlouhy that “reports of the report” were inaccurate and that no commissioner had access to the data.) [...]  More »