Oil

With the world’s major economies chugging along, people are using more oil. That means more demand for crude, just as some places that supply it are cutting back. Some production cuts are intentional — like Saudi Arabia’s — but other hiccups in supply are due to political chaos, like Venezuela. If U.S. fracking steps up […]

New figures show Venezuela’s oil output plummeted again last year, continuing a years-long streak of falling production. What will it mean for the economy as inflation soars and quality of life for residents declines? Rice University’s Francisco Monaldi explains why he calls the trend a “death spiral” for the country’s oil industry. Click the above audio […]

Infamous investor T. Boone Pickens is closing his BP Capital fund and retiring at age 89 after amassing a fortune in energy — everything from oil and natural gas, to wind power and water. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City would divest its pension funds from fossil fuels and that the city would sue the big five oil companies. The reason? To collect damages for the cost of coping with the effects of climate change on city infrastructure. The irony […]

As the Energy Information Administration forecast looks to 2019, experts see lots of wildcards that could impact the carefully played hands of oil and gas producers. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

It’s the highest first-of-the-year price for oil since 2014. But the companies producing crude are taking a more cautious view of things than the investors and lenders who back their efforts. From unrest in Iran to uncertainty about the new tax code, oil could face a profitable but turbulent year. Click the audio player above […]

In Italy a judge declared that two multinational oil giants — and executives — will go on trial for a major bribery case involving Nigeria. At its core, it alleges Shell and the Italian oil giant Eni paid more than a billion dollars for oil-drilling rights that were actually bribes. Click the audio player above […]

Running cars on something other than gas stands to greatly reduce the world’s need for oil. That has energy company Shell moving into the electric vehicle charging business. On top of last month’s purchase of major European electric vehicle charging network NewMotion, it’s got a new partnership to put high speed EV chargers in dozens […]