BP (BP) is one of those Big Oil companies that has invested a great deal of advertising money into convincing people that it is diversifying in the name of the earth (you know, "beyond petroleum"). BP seems especially interested in biofuels. The company has been known to invest in jatropha, as well as biofuel ventures…
Last week, with an announcement of a new record for Royal Dutch Shell‘s (RDS-B) quarterly profits, analysts were hoping for a record quarter of $13 billion in profits for Exxon Mobil (XOM). However, with "only" profits of $11.6 billion (a figure that RDS-B had), the analysts were disappointed. And, as a result, Exxon’s share price…
Photo: JamSki, Creative Commons, Flickr If, as an environmentally-friendly investor, your main concern is global climate change, the latest trend in socially responsible investing may work for you. Many socially responsible funds are starting to include nuclear holdings in the mix. Why? Because nuclear can be considered "alternative," in that it is carbon neutral. No…
Photo: urbanjacksonville, Creative Commons, Flickr With the race to launch the world’s first commercially viable zero-emission vehicle now in full swing, it would be kind of fun to take a short trip down memory lane to see the genesis of this race and how we can formulate our expectations going forward.
It is time for Quarter 2 earnings reports from a variety of companies, among them Big Oil. Quarter 1 Big Oil earnings were rather spectacular, but that didn’t include the amazing oil prices seen in Quarter 2 of 2008.
Photo: dfbarrero, Creative Commons, Flickr The U.S. government estimates that a fifth of the world’s recoverable and undiscovered oil and natural gas are in the Arctic.
Photo: HTB, Creative Commons, Flickr Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day?
In order to compete with gasoline, hydrogen fuel cell technology needs $200 billion.
Judith Warner wrote the most interesting thing in the New York Times last week: This is a story of selfishness and greed, of self-centeredness, envy and the ignorant folly of a person too short-sighted to realize she should count herself lucky because her college education didn’t have to be paid for with the milk of…
Exxon Mobil (XOM), operates leases that it purchased more than 30 years ago from the gas and oil rich Point Thomson field in Alaska – leases that have never been developed. Now, though, Exxon is ready to move forward. The snag is that XOM, along with other lease partners BP (BP) and Chevron (CVX), are…
International oil companies like Total (TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-B) may be pulling out of Iran, but there are plenty of other deals to be had in other Middle Eastern countries. Just ask ConocoPhillips (COP). In an effort to diversify further into natural gas and to expand its global holdings, ConocoPhillips recently inked an…
Photo: seccad, Creative Commons, Flickr For the most part, French companies haven’t been overly concerned with what others are doing. If there’s profit, often that’s good enough. And that seemed to be the case with regard to a recent deal in the works between the French supermajor, Total (TOT), and Iran. Total was going to…
It doesn’t seem strange that a Texas oilman (and a Republican to boot) would come with a way to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. After all, Big Oil companies like Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP) are chomping at the bit to reduce imports of foreign oil by allowing more domestic drilling offshore…
Not too long ago, the Feds decided that they wouldn’t be accepting new (the already-submitted applications remained in play) applications for solar power plants. These solar power plants are being proposed in desert areas across the Southwest and West as ways to provide renewable energy. The reason for the halt to new applications? The government…
Photo: Dennis Gerbeckx, Creative Commons, Flickr Environmentalism is becoming a big deal. More and more companies, including Wal-Mart (WMT), are jumping on the environmental bandwagon, straining themselves to make changes so that they can show consumers how environmentally conscious they are.
Photo: jpchan, Creative Commons, Flickr After easing up a bit, oil prices are back on the rise, and nothing the Saudis say about increased production and a meeting with producers and consumers seems to be stopping the gains. As a result, the broader stock market is down (helped along by additional worries over the continuing credit market…
Big Oil companies are currently offering "value" investing opportunities. While the stock market takes a break today, with oil prices falling back a bit and gas prices easing a very little, oil companies may provide good buying opportunities. Among those that stand a good chance include Total (TOT), the French "supermajor" oil company.
The Honda FCX Clarity is a hydrogen powered car that claims to have twice the efficiency of traditional gas and electric hybrid vehicles. And it doesn’t emit greenhouse gases. Ever. No matter what mode it’s in. (Although one could argue that the greenhouse gases involved in creating the electricity portion are an issue.)
Photo: emilyd10, Creative Commons, Flickr Exxon Mobil (XOM) is announcing that it is selling more than 2,000 of its gas stations. This move is part of Exxon’s movement in a new direction to become leaner, and more efficient, focusing more on energy production than on the retail side of things. However, Exxon still plans to…
A couple of days ago, XTO energy (XTO) announced that it is acquiring Hunt Petroleum. Hunt Petroleum is a privately held company, and its absorption into the XTO family comes on the heels of recent equity acquisitions from Linn Energy (LINE) and the privately held Headington Oil. The deal is $4.3 billion in stock and…
Photo: Misterbisson, Creative Commons, Flickr Senate Democrats once again tried to push through a bill to create a windfall tax on Big Oil profits. And, again, it failed. In order for a debate on the bill to even be opened, 60 votes are needed. Those votes were absent, and so the windfall tax on Big…
Photo: denis collette, Creative Commons, Flickr New blood may lead to gradual changes at the biggest of Big Oil companies.
The energy sector is rising again, with oil services companies leading the way. A number of exploration ventures are helping Big Oil on the stock market. Additionally, oil future are on the way up again. One of the oil services companies that saw some good results on the market Thursday was Hess (HES), due to…
New technology claims to offer the ability for automobiles to get 150 miles per gallon.
Could 20% of our electricity come from wind power by 2030?