Blog Post
Gary Gensler made news today by repeating some earlier pledges to get speculative oil markets under control. He has to act soon. If oil prices can hit $70 a barrel in this economy, they’ll shoot back up to $140 a barrel, with $4-a-gallon gasoline, at the slightest encouragement.
Blog Post
06-30-09 by dugan I choked on my black-bean enchilada when an e-mail alert popped up about a new bill in the Senate. Oklahoma oil and natural gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who failed miserably last…
Blog Post
6-22-09 Nothing changed in the real world today–economy still shrinking, gasoline consumption near 10-year lows. But speculators who doubled the price of crude oil and sent prices at the pump shooting up got some kind…
Blog Post
06-15-09 by dugan What if man-made clouds could save the melting Arctic icepack? What if global warming also made it easier to drill for oil and natural gas in the most frozen parts of the…
Blog Post
06-09-09 by dugan Oil prices hitting close to $70 a barrel today are a speculator’s paradise. Their party, of course, is being paid for by consumers at the pump and struggling businesses. Gasoline is averaging…
Blog Post
05-02-09 by dugan Oil companies have ruled in Washington for a couple of decades, paying lower federal fees than in any other developed country. There’s a shimmer of a hint that situation might change….
Blog Post
What If Chevron Ran An Honest Ad Campaign? Instead of just making fun of Chevron’s fake environmentalism, what if someone made them tell the truth? Jeff Grubler of InsaneReagan actually did it, producing…
Blog Post
05-24-09 by dugan Organized protest has come a long way from crude cartoons and thrown-together "white papers." For tomorrow’s annual meeting at Chevron’s San Ramon, CA, headquarters, a loose environmental and activist coalition has produced…
Press Release
‘Optimism’ Is Driving Energy Prices, Consumers Will Suffer The Memorial Day Hangover, Says Consumer Watchdog Oil, Gas Prices Rising Again At Record Clip For Holiday, Despite Oversupply, Low Demand, Says Group Washington, D.C. — The…
Blog Post
05-08-09 by dugan I don’t know why CNBC has suddenly gotten honest about what’s driving oil prices. Maybe Jon Stewart’s skewering of the network for its clueless economic cheerleading before the meltdown? In any case,…
Smoking Gun
05-01-09 by dugan Last week I figured the vehement reaction of the fuel industry, as Costco agreed to sell gasoline adjusted for temperature, was because Costco was the first crack in the industry’s united front….
Press Release
Exxon Profit at 2003-04 Levels ‘Shows What Normal Looks Like,’ Says Consumer Group Santa Monica, CA — Exxon Mobil’s first quarter profit of $4.55 billion dollars is small only by comparison to the last six…
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…
