Blog

The wave of anti-fracking protests sweeping the globe have now spread as far as North Africa.

There is growing evidence that transporting tar sands oil maybe as inherently dangerous as carrying the volatile Bakken shale oil.

A state of emergency was declared late yesterday in two counties in the south of West Virginia after a crude by rail train oil derailed and exploded, in what is the latest in a long string of accidents in North America.

The oil industry often prides itself in pushing the boundaries of technology. The whole fracking revolution has been driven by the industry pioneering new techniques to exploit oil and gas that was previously out of reach.

Everywhere you look there is carnage in the oil industry as the reality of low oil prices begins to bite. From North America, to the North Sea and the Arctic, the low crude oil price is reshaping the size, shape and prospects of the industry.

Just how low can the oil price go? What was unthinkable even a few months ago is now becoming distinctly probable, even likely. As analysts dissect the ramifications for the oil industry of $40 dollar barrel, oil traders are now thinking that the price of crude will halve that to a staggering $20 a barrel. Prices have not been that low for twenty years.

Later today the Senate floor is expected to vote on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, although currently Senators do not have enough votes to override Obama’s promised presidential veto on the issue.

The new year has started just like the old one ended, with the oil price continuing its downward slide. This morning oil dropped to five and a half year low as over supply continued to spook the markets.

The US shale industry faces a Darwinian struggle over the next few months as only the fittest producers will survive as the price of crude plunges to $50 a barrel, the Bank of America has warned.

For years, the oil industry and its powerful friends in Congress talked of a shale gas utopia where fracking would lead to energy independence in for US.