What are crack spreads and why are they elevated? Crack spreads are indicators of the profitability of refining crude oil into petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel. One common crack spread is calculated by subtracting the spot market price of a gallon of crude oil from the wholesale price of … [continued]
Crude oil and petroleum product prices increased significantly in the first quarter of 2026 (1Q26), particularly following military action in the Middle East on February 28 and the subsequent de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In this quarterly update, we review petroleum markets price developments in 1Q26, covering … [continued]
Crude oil production from onshore federal lands has increased in recent years as a result of significant growth in drilling activity and operations. According to data collected by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue, onshore crude oil production from federal lands reached 1.7 million barrels per … [continued]
U.S. crude oil exports in 2024 surpassed the previous record set in 2023, exceeding an annual average of 4.1 million barrels per day (b/d). Despite this new record, crude oil export year-over-year growth slowed to 1% in 2024, compared with 14% in 2023 and 21% in 2022. Crude oil production … [continued]
ChatGPT generated anoramic image of a diesel burning locomotive pulling oil and coal cars with American flags on the side
The free rider problem in climate action arises when some countries or actors benefit from the efforts of others to mitigate climate change without contributing their fair share. Since the atmosphere is a global common good, actions taken by one country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions benefit the entire world, … [continued]
Four years ago, things looked bleak for federal action in the industrial sector. Biden and Harris’ current plan is light on specific climate action for industry as well. The committed Kigali Amendment and Paris Accord ratifications will have flow-down impacts of course. There are research dollars for low-carbon concrete and … [continued]
China is well known as the world’s leading electric vehicle (EV) market. More than half of the world’s EV sales have occurred there in recent years. It is a standard of the rapid, uplifting EV revolution. In 2023, 25% of auto sales in China were sales of full electric vehicles. … [continued]
We increased our forecast prices for crude oil and petroleum products for the remainder of 2024 in our March Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) following the announcement that OPEC+ will extend the existing voluntary production cuts through the second quarter of 2024. We now forecast significantly less global oil production than world oil consumption through the first … [continued]
U.S. crude oil exports established a record in 2023, averaging 4.1 million barrels per day (b/d), 13% (482,000 b/d) more than the previous annual record set in 2022. Except for 2021, U.S. crude oil exports have increased every year since 2015, when the U.S. ban on most crude oil exports was … [continued]
By far the greatest user is the fossil fuel industry, and they want to multiply its use by orders of magnitude to perpetuate their business.
