A new study out yesterday claims that the Volcker rule, intended to push proprietary trading out of the banks, could end up slamming the U.S. energy sector, slashing two billion cubic feet a day off natural gas production and costing two hundred thousand jobs. The alarming report, commissioned by Morgan Stanley and written by the consultancy IHS, is making waves. I am, to put it mildly, not convinced. Read more »

Anticipation is heating up around another release of oil and petroleum products from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), likely in coordination with the United Kingdom, France, and possibly others. Read more »

It’s difficult to open a newspaper or turn on the TV without hearing that Americans are apoplectic about skyrocketing gas prices. If ever there was a moment to channel public anger toward policy progress, this would seem to be it. So I was intrigued to see a new poll from Hart Research Associates, commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which tests a series of messages about gas prices and policy responses to see which ones would work best. Read more »

Cliff Krauss and Eric Lipton have an epic, must-read piece in today’s New York Times on the boom in U.S. oil and gas. It includes a quote from me that I ought to briefly expand on: Read more »

Study after study seems to be reaching the same conclusion: abundant natural gas is no solution for climate change. Indeed some scientists, having looked at the numbers, have come to an even harsher conclusion: there is so much unconventional gas in the ground that our only hope for dealing with climate change is to leave it untouched. Read more »

Oil prices are on the rise, and with them so are rumors of a possible release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I’m ambivalent about the wisdom of a release later this year, on both economic and political grounds. In this post, though, I want to drill down on a separate point: the United States should only release oil from the SPR if it’s fully committed to further releases as the year goes on. Read more »

It’s become popular to point to record low unemployment in North Dakota in order to show how greater oil and gas production could transform the U.S. economy. I’ve argued on several occasions that the numbers simply don’t add up at the national level. Over the past couple days, Paul Krugman has gotten in on the game, hammering away at the fact that the North Dakota case simply doesn’t scale up. Read more »

As the Iranian oil embargo begins to bite, the widespread assumption is that this should hurt Iran’s oil revenues and government budgets, hopefully inflicting enough economic pain to bring them to the bargaining table. But rather counterintuitively, some basic economics suggest Iran may have cause to thank the United States, European Union, and embargo participants for helping raise their total oil revenue! Read more »

Is oil drilling in Cuban waters safe? Or might a “Cuban oil crisis” be upon us? And is the United States prepared for the possibility of a major spill just sixty miles from the Florida keys? Read more »

Pundits love to talk about how gasoline prices might influence the upcoming presidential election. So it might surprise people to know that political scientists have spent precious little time investigating the relationship between oil and electoral outcomes. The first step in getting our arms around how pain at the pump might play at the ballot box is to pull together some good data. Trevor Houser has done us the favor of delivering just that. Read more »