The dispute over the controversial oil and gas pipeline known as “Nord Stream 2” ended on Wednesday when the United States Department of State announced that the Biden administration was waiving sanctions against the...more
For more than a week Israel and Hamas have been battering each other with rocket fire coming from Hamas in Gaza and airstrikes coming from Israel. The destruction and loss of human life are appalling – from both sides of the...more
On Wednesday, April 28, a major component of the legal battle in the fight over interstate oil and gas pipelines will reach a climax. In Washington, D.C., the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case...more
Last week, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the legal dispute that has stymied completion of the proposed $1 Billion PennEast Pipeline from the Marcellus Shale gas fields of Northeastern Pennsylvania to Central...more
President Biden’s first move on energy internationally likely will be one of his most unfortunate actions - rejoining the Paris Climate Accords. Unfortunately, he will have no choice, since he has consistently pledged to do...more
1/15/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Canada ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Sector ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Fracking ,
Green Deal ,
International Relations ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Paris Agreement ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Turkey ,
Venezuela
When President Biden takes office on January 20, among the many other obstacles, issues and problems that he will need to deal with is an impending polar vortex that meteorologists now predict will descend upon the United...more
1/12/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Domestic Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Foreign Policy ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Fracking ,
Infrastructure ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Natural Disasters ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Polar Vortex ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia
2020 obviously will be the Year of the Pandemic. However, when it comes to energy, 2020 will also be known as the Year of the Great Disconnect. Thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic, never have fossil fuels been more important...more
...Every two years at election time, I publish a guide to the most interesting and important races around the country affecting energy. In 2020, however, energy, along with the coronavirus, is the election.
Originally...more
...Just one week before the 2020 Presidential election, two topics are dominating the conversation - the coronavirus and hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking.” The reason for the coronavirus is obvious, but many...more
Earlier in June, while trying to locate the successor to a longtime employee at Chesapeake Energy on behalf of a client, I asked a friend at another energy company if he knew whom I should contact. “I don’t know,” he...more
On a desolate Himalayan mountainside thousands of feet above sea level, Chinese and Indian troops recently fought a military battle using sticks, clubs and fists. When it was over, the hostilities over a border dispute left...more
Following days of rioting that frightened even those of us who remember the 1960’s, a dazed America wakes up in a very different place than before. Still in the midst of civic unrest and a global pandemic, the country also...more
One breakout political star of the Coronavirus crisis has been New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. His daily briefings have been direct and succinct.
Cuomo often says that numbers will drive the policy. Unfortunately, in...more
March 2020 will be the month the western world changed. As March began, there was relative normalcy except in China and isolated places in east Asia. By month’s end, much of the west – indeed, the entire world – was in...more
The shockwaves to both worldwide civilization and the international economy of the coronavirus, COVID-19, continue to escalate, with energy being the latest front.
China, the world’s largest oil importer, has drastically...more
3/12/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Economic Downturn ,
Energy Sector ,
Exploration and Production Assets ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Relations ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
Saudi Arabia
People in the United States who wonder how far pipeline protests can go, and how disruptive they can be, need only look north to Canada. As this article is written, much of the national Canadian rail system has been shut down...more
2/20/2020
/ Canada ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Native American Issues ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Protests ,
Railways ,
Tribal Lands
While the eyes of the world have been on the impeachment of President Trump, Brexit, the coronavirus and the new American peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians, the seeds for the next war perhaps are being sown in the...more
Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison already owns about 98% of Lanai, a small Hawaiian island with approximately 3,000 residents nine miles from and politically part of Maui. Two weeks ago, the island announced that...more
General Qassem Soleimani, the Commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), was killed by a United States drone strike this morning in Baghdad. Soleimani was the second most powerful man in Iran,...more
2019 was the year in which reality smacked the Marcellus Shale Basin in the face. Long held assumptions about asset valuation and infrastructure development fell apart. By year’s end, some of the most famous names in the...more
The Middle East turned on its axis last week. Thanks in large part to the shale revolution, few Americans heard about it – and most did not care who did.
Originally published on Forbes.com November 5, 2019....more
11/7/2019
/ Energy Sector ,
Foreign Policy ,
Hong Kong ,
Iraq ,
Lebanon ,
Middle East ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Protests ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Shale Gas ,
Syria ,
Turkey
Two of the legal worlds that I straddle – energy and aviation – collided last week in the Mediterranean Sea. The implications for these two disciplines, as well as world security, could be enormous.
Originally published on...more
11/7/2019
/ Cyprus ,
Drones ,
Energy Sector ,
Greece ,
Israel ,
Middle East ,
Natural Gas ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Syria ,
Turkey
Pacific Gas and Electric provided its customers in northern California with a glimpse of the future last week. Due to extremely dry conditions coupled with the prospect of strong winds, and cognizant of last year’s massive...more
11/6/2019
/ Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
CPUC ,
Energy Sector ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
PG&E ,
Pipelines ,
Renewable Energy ,
Utilities Sector ,
Wildfires
While little noticed outside of the energy industry, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is about to make one of the seminal decisions of his tenure. Before May 16, 2019, Governor Cuomo must decide whether to allow the New York...more
5/1/2019
/ Certifications ,
Department of Environmental Conservation ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
FERC ,
Fracking ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines
President Trump joined the pipeline battle last week by issuing two Executive Orders aiming at limiting the power of state officials to determine federal policy. One Order calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to...more
4/15/2019
/ Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
Trump Administration