China’s growing energy use was probably at the back of everyone’s minds this week at the global climate deliberations in South Africa this week. Perhaps the theme for the meeting could be “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”  More »

This post was written by Kenneth B. Medlock III, the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. The US Senate has taken up a review of the licensing and permitting of exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).  The issue was addressed in [...]  More »

This post was written by Keily Miller, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. On the heels of the Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt bankruptcies last month, solar panel maker Solyndra declared its intention this week to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. And much like Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt, Solyndra was the recipient of generous [...]  More »

Environmental opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring crude oil to the U.S. from the Canadian oil sands has heated up in recent weeks as the decision for whether to approve the pipeline approaches.  More »

This post was written by Keily Miller, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Last week’s decision by Evergreen Solar to file for bankruptcy shakes more than just the shareholders. The latest among a surge of bankruptcies and plunges in profits of solar industry heavyweights such as First Solar and SunPower, Evergreen Solar’s rapid [...]  More »

American oil industry leadership groups such as the National Petroleum Council and the American Petroleum Institute have been meeting in recent months to fashion new frameworks for the industry to ensure best practices for oil and natural gas drilling. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the task at hand is proving highly [...]  More »

This post was written by Keily Miller, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. In response to the ongoing violence plaguing Syrian cities, the Obama administration is toying with a new plan to sanction Syria’s oil and gas industry. The plan rests on two assumptions: first, that sanctioning Syria’s energy industry sector will wreak [...]  More »

This post was written by Keily Miller, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. July was a rough month for the shale gas industry. Marcellus shale wells faced permit suspensions for the withdrawal of water from nearby streams, the media issued reports that various toxic chemicals released during production were migrating to America’s water [...]  More »

Iran, Venezuela and Iraq may rue the day that they sent Saudi Arabia home empty handed from the June 8 OPEC meeting.  More »

This post was written by Keily Miller, Research Associate at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. As Algeria tenders its 150-MW solar plant this week, investors should ask themselves: with the Arab Spring making its way into an “Arab Summer,” is the winter of large-scale solar at hand? Over the last few years, North Africa has [...]  More »

Does Iraq have what it takes to shake up the global energy market? Oil production capacity growth in Iraq and Saudi Arabia hold the key to future oil market stability, but the outlook for gains in the near to intermediate term looks cloudy, according to a new study by the Baker Institute. Political instability in [...]  More »

This post was written by Kenneth B. Medlock III, the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Baker Institute Energy Forum. Just a decade ago, companies were planning large scale investments that would allow them to import substantial volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to all [...]  More »