Energy & Fuel

"BAGHDAD -- Iraq's Oil Ministry says crude oil exports have averaged 2.565 million barrels a day in August, the highest level in more than three decades."

"The U.S. Justice Department is ramping up its rhetoric against BP PLC for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, describing in new court papers examples of what it calls 'gross negligence and willful misconduct.'"

"The Obama administration has cleared another hurdle for Shell to drill in Alaska’s Arctic waters – the second in as many days – changing the company’s air pollution limits so its drill ship can operate in the Chukchi Sea."

"PORTLAND, Ore. — About 15 years ago, this environmentally conscious state with a fir tree on its license plates began pushing the idea of making renewable energy from the ocean waves that bob and swell on the Pacific horizon. But then one of the first test-buoy generators, launched with great fanfare, promptly sank. It was not a good start."

Tony Hayward, the BP America CEO during the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2012, after being pilloried by environmentalists and pounded by the press, made it worse by saying he wanted his life back. Now he does -- working to produce more oil from the promising fields of northern Iraq.

"The last few days may have seen the demise of two reactor projects that had looked promising a few years ago, when the economy was strong and people worried about the high price of natural gas and the possibility of a price on carbon emissions."

"Energy companies were restoring offshore oil and natural gas production and restarting refineries on Sunday as the recovery from Hurricane Isaac shifted into high gear."

"The Obama Administration [Thursday] gave Shell approval to prepare for oil drilling in environmentally fragile Chukchi Sea off Alaska although a critical oil spill containment vessel has not been certified. Shell will be permitted to start 'certain limited preparatory activities' for drilling off Alaska’s northwest coast, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters."

"President Felipe Calderón of Mexico announced Wednesday that the national oil company, Pemex, had struck oil in deep water, its first success after years of exploration in the deeper reaches along the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico."

The dramatic drop in the price of natural gas as a result of the U.S. fracking boom may doom the profitability of future coal-burning power plants. It is just one example of how imperfect information about the future makes energy markets uncertain and risky.