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oil
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Probe: BP Cost-Cutting Led To Spill
By Phil Villarreal on September 15, 2011 8:15 AM
49 Comments
BP's infamous oil spill last year in the Gulf of Mexico might have been prevented had the company not offered incentives to workers to cut costs rather than improve safety. A 16-months-in-the-making government report concluded that there were five instances in which BP either cut costs, decreased drilling time or increased risks. More »
Oil Prices Drop 4.5% As 60M Barrels Are Unexpectedly Released
By Ben Popken on June 23, 2011 1:00 PM
62 Comments
Expect some much-needed relief at the pump! The US and its industrial allies unexpectedly announced that they're releasing 60 million barrels of crude oil from reserves over the next 30 days. The move came after a recent OPEC meeting failed to result in increased production. Oil prices immediately kicked down 4.5% on the news. Time to fill up the 'ol SUV and do some donuts before the market realizes it overreacted and prices go back up! More »
Analysts: Gas Prices Should Drop In June
By Phil Villarreal on May 9, 2011 9:15 AM
105 Comments
By next month, $4 gas may be in our rear-view mirrors. Falling oil commodities prices will translate to less pain at the pump if analysts' predictions come true. More »
(znjcmom)
Big Oil Companies Sucked Up Much Higher Profits Than They Did A Year Ago
By Phil Villarreal on April 29, 2011 11:06 AM
94 Comments
You may not be too pleased about paying higher and higher gas prices, but rest assured that your money is going to a good cause — the continued enrichment of big oil. In the first quarter of 2011, the five largest oil companies all upped their massive profits from a year ago. More »
(matneym)
Rising Gas Prices May Lead To Fuel Surcharge Increases On Shipments
By Phil Villarreal on April 27, 2011 9:15 AM
52 Comments
Surging gas prices affect not only those with gas guzzlers, but potentially just about every product you buy. Rising shipping costs will likely be passed on to consumers, who will have less money to cover the costs because of other ways expensive gas is sucking them dry. More »
Social Media Campaigns Urge You To Avoid Getting Gas Today
By Phil Villarreal on March 10, 2011 9:15 AM
124 Comments
In an effort to prove that demand for gasoline isn't quite as constant as oilmen would like to think, consumer advocates are taking to social media sites to get drivers to skip trips to the pump today. More »
(u2acro)
Government May Tap Petroleum Reserve To Tame Pump Prices
By Phil Villarreal on March 7, 2011 9:45 AM
119 Comments
Because Middle Eastern turmoil is inflating the price of oil, leading to runaway gas prices that are in no way examples of gouging, the government is considering turning toward its own petroleum stockpile. More »
(amanjo)
Gas Station Owner Says He's Not Gouging Customers
By Phil Villarreal on March 3, 2011 11:15 AM
159 Comments
Gas prices keep rising at a ridiculous rate, but gas station owners aren't to blame — take it from a gas station owner. More »
Middle East Turmoil Makes Oil Prices Gush
By Phil Villarreal on February 24, 2011 8:45 AM
75 Comments
Ongoing protests and government upheaval in the Middle East may be great for freedom, but the phenomenon is costly for anyone who needs to buy gas. Oil shot up past $100 a barrel Wednesday, its highest point in more than two years. More »
Spill Leaves Gulf Of Mexico Floor Covered By Layer Of Oil, Dead Animals
By Phil Villarreal on February 22, 2011 11:30 AM
50 Comments
Although BP has projected the Gulf of Mexico will recover from last year's oil spill by the end of next year, a University of Georgia professor says a layer of oil and dead animals at the bottom of the gulf could devastate wildlife for years to come. More »
Gas Prices Rise Amidst Egyptian Turmoil, But Now Holding Steady
By Ben Popken on February 1, 2011 11:00 AM
40 Comments
The upheaval in Egypt is raising prices at the pump, with average prices rising to $3.10 a gallon, according to data from GasBuddy. Though Egypt is not a major supplier of oil, the Egyptian-controlled Suez canal and the nearby Sumed pipeline are key pass-through points for the world's oil supply, and there are concerns that the civil unrest could spread to other oil-producing countries. As of Tuesday upwards pressure on oil prices eased off as so far back the protests haven't disrupted transportation. More »
(Bonard)
So Whatever Happened To All That Oil Spilled In The Gulf Anyway?
By Ben Popken on January 4, 2011 1:00 PM
62 Comments
Remember all that oil that BP spilled into the Gulf this summer? Whatever became of it? Well, good news. Bacteria ate most of it, reports Slate, and the other stuff was skimmed back up, evaporated, burned off, or it got diluted out into the seas. More »
(RAWRZ!)
Post-BP Spill, Gulf Residents' Depression Up 25%
By Ben Popken on September 29, 2010 2:00 PM
21 Comments
A new Gallup poll shows that the mental health of people living in the Gulf has dramatically declined after the BP oil spill, with clinical cases of depression up 25%. More »
How About A Tasty Crude Oil Salad From Shell?
By Ben Popken on September 27, 2010 3:00 PM
19 Comments
Before we had slick and savvy advertising campaigns like the Singimals and the Sticky-Bottomed-Bears, Madison Avenue pumped out some truly demented shlock like Shell's "oil salad" one-pager from the December 22, 1947 issue of Life. Yummy! Serve me up a salad of asphalt! More »
Feds Tell Reporter It's Illegal To Build Sand Castles in Florida
By Phil Villarreal on September 20, 2010 1:30 PM
70 Comments
A journalist who was searching the Florida Gulf Islands National Seashore for signs of oil pollution got a silly reason to go home from federal agents. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative told the WEAR ABC 3 Pensacola reporter, who was using a shovel to dig through the sand, that he needed to produce a permit that said he could do so. Soon after, a National Parks Service rep told the reporter the same thing. More »
Are You Changing Your Car's Oil Too Frequently?
By Chris Walters on September 13, 2010 8:06 AM
140 Comments
According to the consumer advice editor at Edmunds, if you bought a car in the last seven or eight years, you don't have to change its oil every 3,000 miles. On these newer models, it's fine to wait until 7,500 miles or more, although a Pennzoil employee tells the New York Times that you should stick with what your manual advises (which is still probably less frequent than every 3,000 miles). You can also check out this California State list of guidelines for different cars. More »
Petroleum Platform Explodes In The Gulf Of Mexico
By Chris Morran on September 2, 2010 12:45 PM
38 Comments
Because the water in the Gulf of Mexico wasn't screwed up enough as it is, now come reports that an offshore petroleum platform has exploded and is on fire in the Gulf Mexico, approximately 80 miles off the Louisiana coast. More »
Gulf Fish "Trying To Crawl Out Of The Water"
By Ben Popken on August 25, 2010 11:00 AM
38 Comments
"Jubilee" is a fun word. Down in the Gulf, it means when fish, crabs, eels and shrimp flood to the shoreline to escape oxygen-deprived waters. It's a big party as locals scoop up seafood by the bucket-load. While the phenomenon naturally occurs when strong winds stir up hypoxic water from the bottom, for the first time ever it's being seen occur in open water, with the fish flocking to the water's surface. Said one fisherman, "It looks like all of the sea life is trying to get out of the water." More »
BP Says Well Is Plugged, Report Says 3/4 Of Oil Gone
By Ben Popken on August 4, 2010 12:00 PM
65 Comments
BP says that they have stoppered up the well leaking in the Gulf of Mexico. They have filled the well up with mud and reached the desired pressure, they say, a maneuver known as "Static Kill." More »
BP To Test New Cap
By Ben Popken on July 13, 2010 11:00 AM
19 Comments
BP has attached a new, snugger cap - with the cheery moniker of "Top Hat 10 - on the gushing Gulf well and will soon begin tests to see if they didn't cock things up for once. More »
