Why am I waking up feeling like it’s the 1970s? Russian aggression, superpower confrontations, inflation, spiking energy prices and fears of disruption—it’s all déjà vu for Cold War veterans (like me). Environmental degradation was top-of-mind in the ‘70s too. Acid rain, Three Mile Island, smog and leaded gasoline were among many earthly problems furrowing our […]
The price of oil ‘has legs’, as they say. Running bulls are calling for another era of $100-plus. The last time we saw that number flicker on a quote screen was July 2014. Today’s market feels more like circa 2007. Robust oil and gas consumption tugs against reluctant production; geopolitical tensions—think Russia, Ukraine, Middle East—act […]
Climate crisis plus energy crisis does not equal a good path to net-zero emissions. Policy wonks at the upcoming COP26 conference in Glasgow later this month will have a tough time with this calculus. It’s been a while since the phrase energy crisis has been thrown around. When I hear it, I have déjà vu […]
Inflation is the talk of the town. Price indices around the world are showing sharp year-over-year increases. The benchmark US Consumer Price Index is tracking over 5% per year. That’s high: for over a dozen years we’ve been acclimatized to half that rate. The pull for resource commodities is a big part of what’s driving broad-based inflation. Consider oil. A barrel of Texas light is selling for over $US 70, again. Only a year ago, under debilitating lockdowns, forty bucks […]