Blog Post
04-07-09 by dugan What OilWatchdog usually worries about is what refiners do to keep fuel prices higher than they should be, and lately I’ve been studying the paucity of real-time operational information that is available…
Blog Post
04-02-09 by dugan Oil, being a commodity that people buy and consume, ought to be priced according to supply and demand. Of course, we know that’s not true. But it’s still a little surprising to…
Blog Post
03-31-09 by dugan Corporate arrogance leads to corporate blindness: AIG execs who packaged impossible risk into AAA securities, bankers who lent trillions on a bet that the real estate bubble would never pop. In Chevron’s…
Blog Post
When a major oil company announces a green fuels project, the trumpet is loud. Press releases, media blitz, public officials on site. The death of the project is a slink-away-at-midnight affair. So it is with…
Blog Post
03-25-09 by dugan There’s no doubt that the ethanol industry is in trouble. Credit crunch, ugly recession, and roller-coaster energy prices that spook investors. The Des Moines Register has a good rundown today on cellulosic…
Blog Post
04-24-09 by dugan Here’s the best proof I’ve seen that every last thing Exxon does is about the bottom line. On the 20th anniversary of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill, Exxon is still running…
Blog Post
Does OilWatchdog troll gossip sites? Well, how else to stumble on the Conde Nast Portfolio cover of Sarah Palin, with leftover photos from her Vogue shoot and a bottom line that she’s not governing anything,…
Blog Post
The fuel dealers’ newsletter Oil Express sent around a bulletin today that shows who’s still gyrating the price of oil, gasoline and diesel. The headline: Gasoline, Diesel, Crude Ride Surge in Wild Thursday Trading. Prices…
Blog Post
03-08-09 by dugan "Move over, Big Oil. There’s a new VIP guest in the White House: Silicon Valley." Writers know you have to nab readers with the lead paragraph. That one above, by Erika Lovley…
Blog Post
03-04-09 by dugan Are fairness and transparency in buying and selling just "public perceptions" that are "subjective" and "variable"? Of course not. That’s why regulators measure and inspect the scales at your supermarket. They even…
Blog Post
Opponents of coal got a big buzz the past week by releasing a YouTube video, "Clean Coal Air Freshener," produced by filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. It’s good as the sparkling family chokes, and the…
Blog Post
When I hear that Ben Stein and the chairman of Exxon are both pushing a policy that I like, it scares me to pieces. Last month, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson said in a speech that…
Blog Post
2-18-09 by dugan 2-19 update: AP update from last night says it’s definitely a lubricant oil spill from a tank on the platform, but still not fixed. Why’s that? And how long was it leaking…
