By Ellen Wald Yesterday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report warning that global carbon dioxide emissions are on track to increase by 5% this year.  The organization predicts that emissions will increase by 1.5 billion tonnes and this will be the “largest single increase in more than a decade.” This sounds dreadfully scary, but a look at the actual numbers reveals that this is just hyperbole. In fact, the IEA predicts that global carbon dioxide emissions in 2021 will...

By Ellen Wald A trio of environmentalist advocacy groups—Greenpeace, Earthworks and Global Witness—have jointly complained to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about advertisements from Chevron that they claim overstate Chevron’s investments in renewable energy and exaggerate its commitment to cutting pollution from fossil fuels. The environmental groups accuse Chevron of unlawfully deceptive advertisements and greenwashing. The complaint was filed a month ago, and has flown under the radar, but could actually turn out to be a much more influential action...

By Ellen Wald In a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for a “minimum global corporate income tax” and said the Biden administration planned to work with the G20 on this issue. Now, the Biden team claims to be working on a global floor for corporate income taxes, though this would go against the interests of most other countries. The Biden administration can’t be so naïve as to think that...

By Ellen Wald For over a week, the container ship Ever Given was stuck sideways in the Suez Canal. The entire canal was closed while excavators worked to free the ship, causing a backlog of over 400 vessels on both sides of the canal and spawning hundreds of bad jokes and internet memes. Analysts surmised that everything from higher oil prices to toilet paper shortages might be blamed on this incident, though analysts are not always right (since the price...

By Ellen Wald Saudi Aramco held its earnings call for 2020 on Monday, and once again the company tried to highlight its success but instead it left serious questions about its unique relationship with the absolute monarchy that controls the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Aramco’s net income for 2020 was $49 billion, meaning it did much better in the virus-stricken year than its competitors, most of whom lost money. Yet, there are two significant concerns for the future of Aramco...

By Ellen Wald We are now a year into the “15 days to slow the spread” and the lockdowns that crushed the United States and the world. The economy still has not fully recovered even in jurisdictions where government restrictions are already limited or gone. Global economic activity is still depressed, domestic air travel is down by at least 20,000 flights per day, and unemployment is higher than it was before the virus was discovered. Now we face discussions of...

By Ellen Wald The American Petroleum Institute (API), the premier trade organization for oil companies in the U.S., made headlines recently when it revealed that it is considering supporting carbon-pricing policies. Many are left wondering why the API would support higher prices on oil and gas and their products, which is meant to disincentive their use? As API considers its options, here’s an explanation of what is happening. What is carbon pricing? Carbon-pricing schemes fall into two different categories. The first is...

By Ellen Wald Now that the Biden team is in place, there is a lot of media buzz around the idea that it is trying to “reset” or, in the words of the Biden administration itself, “recalibrate” relations with Saudi Arabia. This perceived change in policy seems tied to the Jamal Khashoggi situation. However, nothing the Biden team has done or is likely to do indicates a change in policy towards Saudi Arabia’s domestic interests. (The Biden team does seem...

Unquestionably, the best part of doing my MBA was learning accounting, reading financial statements, and in particular, doing so with the case study method where you knew there was a smoking gun, you just had to find it.  And so, with Xcel Energy's announcement last week that they had spend $1.2 BILLION in incremental fuel charges to generate power during the 5 day storm that impacted Texas, I had a lot of questions.  Today, we answer some of them. ...

By Ellen Wald Ahmed Zaki Yamani died this week at age 90. He was a pivotal character in creating the modern oil market and modern oil industry. His actions were also vital to turning Saudi Arabia into the wealthy kingdom we know today. He was the Saudi minister of petroleum from 1962 to 1986, and he was the main actor behind the Saudi government’s rise to become the most influential player in global energy. Yet, he fell out of favor...