News
ExxonMobil has restarted the gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its massive Beaumont, Texas, refinery, two days after an unexpected shutdown temporarily disrupted operations, according to sources familiar with the plant. The 120,000-barrel-per-day FCCU went offline Tuesday night following a malfunction, prompting flaring visible across the refinery complex. The company notified the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that flaring would continue for roughly 24 hours. Exxon confirmed neither the cause nor the duration…
Oil prices edged higher over the past week, after a bullish OPEC+ move while expanding strategic oil stocks in China have continued removing extra barrels from global markets, even though Thursday saw some paring of those gains on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks. Previously, there was speculation that OPEC+ was considering accelerating the return of the April 2023 tranche of voluntary output cuts from 137 thousand barrels per day (kb/d), which would result in a 12-month process, to 500kb/d, which would remove the remaining tranche in just…
We are at a time when there seems to be far more conflict than in the past. At least part of the problem is that slowing growth in the world economy is making it more difficult to repay debt with interest, especially for governments. A related issue is that government promises for pensions and healthcare costs are becoming more difficult to pay. Donald Trump is trying to make numerous changes that are distasteful both to other countries and to many people living within the US. What is going wrong with the economy? In my view, major cracks are developing…
Ecuador’s oil industry is caught in a death spiral. Decades of corruption, dwindling private investment, corroded infrastructure and environmental disasters are all weighing on production and reserves growth. Environmentally damaging oil spills are a common occurrence, with evidence suggesting that the national government in Quito is failing to prevent these harmful events. President Daniel Noboa’s commitment to reviving the economically crucial oil industry risks serious pollution, especially with cocaine related violence distracting…
Just five years ago, no one could predict the surge in electricity demand that the United States is currently experiencing because of the proliferation of data centers as AI takes center stage in the tech industry. Many, however, predicted that nuclear is due for a renaissance—and it is getting it, in both conventional form and, in the future, in small modular reactors. A lot of studies have looked into the amount of energy that AI data centers consume, and while their calculations may vary, the overall conclusion does not: AI consumes enormous…
