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More oil, fewer rigs: how the U.S. became the world's top producer

Mar 5, 2024
New, more productive technology helped, along with pressure for profits.
U.S. oil production continues to break records, even though the number of active rigs has fallen by nearly 70% in the past decade.
George Rose/Getty Images

Diamondback and Endeavor merger continues the trend of bigger, fewer oil companies

Feb 12, 2024
Publicly held Diamondback Energy is buying privately held oil driller Endeavor Energy Resources, creating a company worth $50 billion.
 There were more than $100 billion worth of oil and gas mergers and acquisitions in the Permian Basin in 2023.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

What to expect from COP28, the annual U.N. climate summit

The two-week United Nations summit on climate change will kick off on Nov. 30 and take place in Dubai this year.
Sultan Al Jaber, the head of the United Arab Emirates' state-owned oil company, is serving as president of COP28.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Bloomberg Philanthropies

How the 1973 oil embargo changed the way the U.S. thinks about energy

Sep 21, 2023
Fifty years ago this fall, Arab members of OPEC cut off their oil exports to the United States.
Above, an oil pumpjack in California. Then-President Richard Nixon, in a 1973 speech addressing the oil embargo, expressed the need for U.S. energy independence.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Oil refiners have added capacity. That should reduce the risk of sticker shock at the gas pump.

Jun 29, 2023
Last year's price spike was largely the result of a shortage of refining capacity.
Capacity at oil refineries seems to be going up.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Oil demand is steady, but now OPEC+ is cutting supply

Apr 3, 2023
The economies of China, the U.S. and Europe will all be affected by the cartel's move to boost energy prices.
An oil tanker delivers crude to a Chinese port. China’s been increasing its oil demand, but that may not offset a potential slowdown in the West, according to Sara Vakshouri of SVB Energy.
STR/AFP via Getty Images

The benchmark for determining global crude oil prices is changing

Mar 31, 2023
Dated Brent, used to set the price of most of the world's oil, will include supplies from Texas for the first time.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil has the qualities needed for an update of the Brent index. Above, storage tanks in Midland, Texas.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Oil prices are plummeting as the banking crisis unfolds

Mar 21, 2023
Trouble in the banking sector is scrambling expectations of how much oil the global economy needs right now.
Oil pumpjacks stand in the Inglewood Oil Field on in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

War and oil profits mean more investment in fossil fuels — and green energy

Feb 24, 2023
Oil giants are going to invest in more oil while also preparing for a greener future, says The Economist's Vijay Vaitheeswaran.
David McNew/Getty Images

There's a new website publishing news stories in Texas. It's run by Chevron.

Aug 22, 2022
Chevron has been upfront about producing the site, but there are concerns it may be the only source of news for some in the area.
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