Natural gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing is spurring a growing conflict pitting some prosperous North Texas homeowners against energy companies drilling the Barnett Shale and its rich, millenniums-old vein of oil and natural gas encased in rock.  More »

From the beginning BP has painted the Macondo disaster as a shared industry problem, not as a crisis of its own making, Loren Steffy writes, and it’s unfortunate that Mitsui had to sign onto to BP’s corporate schtick to resolve its blame claims.  More »

You aren’t the only one who’s unhappy with your light bill. The City of Houston claims it’s literally been left in the dark, and now it’s suing a unit of CenterPoint Energy that provides street lights across the city, accusing the company of overcharging for lighting. CenterPoint is the local transmission company, and while it [...]  More »

On the 100th anniversary of the ruling that broke up the Standard Oil monopoly, Loren Steffy ponders who would be considered the great oil visionaries of the post-Rockefeller era. Or put another way, who’s the Steve Jobs or Bill Gates of energy?  More »

I’m a little late in posting this link, but last week I taped an interesting discussion with Michael Fjetland for his Global American radio program. It airs Saturdays on 1110 AM in Houston, but you can listen to the podcast from his website. It’s the program that aired May 14, titled “Global Gas Wars.” “Gas” [...]  More »

Last night, I was interviewed by Fox 26 about whether Congress should eliminate a host of tax deductions for big oil companies. How Oil Company Tax Breaks Affect You: MyFoxHOUSTON.com  More »

Soaring gasoline prices are having their usual effect in Washington: a release of short-sighted legislation, Loren Steffy writes. Both parties have fired off bills they hope will capitalize on mounting anger at the pump, providing us with the latest example of how neither party wants to deal with real energy issues.  More »

A couple of years ago, things didn’t look good for chemical companies in the Houston area. LyondellBasell was in bankruptcy, and fears mounted that other companies might follow. Demand was falling, forcing industry stalwarts like Dow and DuPont to curtail production and other companies were shuttering plants and laying off workers. What a difference a [...]  More »

I went to the Cyprus breakfast at the Offshore Technology Conference out of personal curiosity. I lived on the island for a while as a child, and I’ve been intrigued by the implications that Noble Energy’s offshore discovery in Israel might have for Cyprus. Just as the Isaraeli discoveries may transform that country from an [...]  More »

After being persona non grata during the oil spill in the Gulf, BP America Chairman Lamar McKay was greeted with widespread applause at OTC this year, where Loren Steffy writes that the BP exec tried to strike a tone that said “we’re all in this together.”  More »

Bruce Williamson, whose severance pay at Houston-based Dynegy became a roadblock to a private equity buyout, has landed a new job as chief executive of Cleco Corp., a power company based in Pineville, La., Loren Steffy writes.  More »

The Obama administration’s response to the Deepwater Horizon accident has set U.S. energy development back years and has needlessly cost jobs in the offshore industry, said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute. “We believe the moratorium was an overreaction,” he told the  Chronicle’s editorial board this morning. “You didn’t need to put everybody [...]  More »