1-23-08 by dugan Despite the fondness of American conservatives for France’s "cowboy president" Nicolas Sarkozy, his proposal to bargain with OPEC for fixed and stable oil prices was all but ignored in the U.S. news…
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Archive | Author: Judy Dugan
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Don’t cry for Chevron and Exxon
1-22-09 by dugan Can California’s poor little oil companies–Exxon, Shell, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum among them, afford in these bad times to pay something back to California for oil they extract and sell in…
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Treat refiners like utilities? Yep.
1-21-09 by dugan It’s not exactly a buzz yet, but there’s discussion in Washington about banks becoming more like regulated public utilities. Let’s add to that the refining business, which has more in common with…
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Predator Exxon
1-19-08 by dugan How’s your 401 K? Having any trouble paying the mortgage, or the rent? Not Exxon’s problem. It’s on the hunt for bargains–specifically, other oil companies. There’s been a burst of stories like…
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Anything to boost oil’s price
1-15-09 by dugan There are tanker ships loaded with cheap crude oil just floating around the oceans waiting for the price to go up, says a report today by Clifford Krauss of the New York…
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The unwinding begins
President-elect Obama’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Administration all but said in hearings today that she would reverse the EPA’s rejection of California’s tougher-than-national greenhouse curbs on auto emissions. From the San Francisco Chronicle:…
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Energy market piracy
1/14/09 by dugan Here’s a truly watchable explanation of how speculative money took over energy markets in 2008 and helped ruin the world economy. Solutions are included, thanks to CBS 60 minutes and Consumer Watchdog’s…
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Insight on ‘cheaper and cleaner’
1-13-09 by dugan The Detroit Auto Show is mostly a weep-fest, from the reporting, though electric cars are stealing what little show there is. The drooling crowds were mostly around the third-generation Prius, with its…
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Shell Trying to Shut Refinery?
NEWS RELEASE: Memo at Bakersfield Refinery: Shell Oil Is "Trying to Shut Down Our Plant" Consumer Group Calls on Sen. Boxer, California Officials To Investigate at Facility Shell Previously Tried to Shut Down; Warns…
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Pump price up, a penny a day
1-05-09 by dugan Israel doesn’t produce a drop of oil, but that hasn’t stopped the price of crude oil and gasoline from rising sharply in the last week. (As far as speculative markets are…
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Mini-Me speculative frenzy
1-2-09 by dugan Remember those crazy gyrations of crude oil prices last spring and summer? Price gyrations of more than 10% in a day for no economically rational reason, as crude oil marched to $145 a…
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Oil platforms are forever
12-29-08 by dugan With a new administration a few weeks from office, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in opposition, the likelihood of new offshore oil rigs popping up along the California coast may seem slim. But…
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Petroleum’s Happy Holiday
12-24-08 by dugan The White House giveaways have been so fast and furious that they’re hard to track. But here are a couple of recent tales that round up the oil industry loot in this…