May 1, 2011 marks the death of Osama Bin Laden and hopefully the continued demise of Al-Qaeda and its attacks on innocent Muslims and Americans alike. Since oil is one of the major resources of the Arab world, it is not surprising that oil did not escape the attention of Bin Laden, who was born [...]  More »

Mexico, one of the largest oil exporters to the United States, could become a net oil importer in the next decade if it fails to make sufficient upstream oil field investments utilizing new and advanced technologies, according to a new Baker Institute-Oxford University study being released today in Mexico City. The study event “The Future [...]  More »

It is the one year anniversary of the disastrous Macondo offshore oil accident, and people are asking: What did we learn? I think we learned a lot but I cannot say all the lessons are behind us. For sure, Americans have learned more about the technological challenges of oil drilling and energy production in the [...]  More »

The global energy market consequences of the devastating earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 are already starting to be felt, but so far, impacts have been more in spot LNG markets than in oil markets.  That’s because the increased demand for oil to burn for electricity generation will be offset by generally lower [...]  More »

This post was written with help from intern Kathleen Barker and James Coan, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Regardless of whether or not there is a government shutdown on April 8th, it has become clear that the continuing budget problems in Washington could potentially have a significant adverse effect on the oil [...]  More »

This post was written by James Coan, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Americans as a whole really hate taxes, but they seem to particularly loath raising the gasoline tax. In December, when Pew asked Americans 12 options to reduce the budget deficit, more Americans (74%) disapproved of raising the gasoline tax than [...]  More »

The upshot of President Barack Obama’s latest energy speech is correct. We can reduce one-third of our oil imports by 2025. Ironically, the United States has simultaneously never had a better or worse energy outlook. Improving corporate average efficiency standards will effectively bring America to the president’s target probably by itself. When you add the [...]  More »

The Institute for Energy Economics of Japan (IEEJ) discusses the energy impact of the devastating earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 in its latest Japan Energy Brief. IEEJ notes that the earthquake and tsunamis, which tragically claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and devastated cities, towns and villages in a [...]  More »

This post was written by James Coan, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Polling numbers have worsened somewhat for nuclear power, but chances are the United States won’t see a major policy shift that would rescind federal loan guarantees for new nuclear construction. Yet bets are off if another anti-nuclear story captivates the [...]  More »

Oil prices were about to post a major correction based on concerns about the health of the global economy when news surfaced that civil unrest was spreading to Saudi Arabia’s oil rich region of the Eastern province where the population is predominantly Shiite, and local leaders have complained about underrepresentation in the predominantly Sunni Saudi [...]  More »

This post was written by James Coan, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. If not for intervention in 2009, only one of the Big Three domestic automakers would still be in business: Ford. Along with the rest of the auto industry, the Big Three suffered during the financial crisis, but what really put [...]  More »

I have a post answering the question “What’s Behind the Spike in Oil Prices?” over at the New York Times’s Room for Debate blog.  I argue that the fundamentals of current oil supply don’t explain the rapid increase in prices above $85 a barrel. Instead, fear that political change will keep spreading across North Africa [...]  More »