In 2010, I wrote a series of posts documenting how oil and natural prices had decoupled from each other (see here and here). For many years, oil prices (as measured in $ per barrel) were typically 6 to 12 times natural gas prices (as measured in $ per MMBtu). That ratio blew out to around [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Oil’
Oil and Natural Gas Prices Move Even Further Apart
Posted in Energy, Environment, Microeconomics, tagged Oil, Natural Gas, Energy on January 9, 2012 | 3 Comments »
What Should We Do With Higher Gas Tax Revenues?
Posted in Budget, Energy, Environment, tagged Budget, Gasoline, Infrastructure, Oil, Taxes on November 1, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Most of the economics bloggers I know favor higher gasoline taxes. Not immediately, of course, given our economic weakness. But eventually because of environmental and national security concerns. As noted yesterday, Tim Kane of the Kauffman Foundation does a quarterly survey of economics bloggers. This time around, Tim included a question from me about the [...]
Is Our Luck Running Out on Oil Supplies?
Posted in Economy, Energy, Macroeconomics, tagged Energy, Macroeconomics, Oil on October 23, 2011 | 4 Comments »
In an excellent new paper, Jim Hamilton asks whether the “phenomenal increase in global crude oil production over the last century and a half” reflects technological progress or good fortune in finding new reserves. The two aren’t completely distinct, of course. Better technology helps find more resources. But the heart of the question remains: have we been [...]
Why are WTI and Brent Oil Prices Out of Whack?
Posted in Energy, tagged Oil on February 21, 2011 | 5 Comments »
As regular readers may recall, I am intrigued when prices deviate from normal relationships (see, e.g., previous posts on oil vs. natural gas prices and the pricing of Citigroup securities). Over the past couple of months, a new anomaly has emerged: crude oil quoted at Brent has become much more expensive than WTI, the usual [...]
Can Natural Gas Replace Oil for Diesel?
Posted in Energy, Environment, tagged Energy, Natural Gas, Oil on December 24, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In a series of posts (most recent here), I’ve noted that oil and natural gas prices have become unhinged from each other. Oil (denominated in $ per barrel) used to trade at 6 to 12 times the price of natural gas (denominated in $ per MMBtu). But lately that ratio has been north of 20, [...]
The New Normal in Oil and Natural Gas Prices
Posted in Energy, Environment, tagged Energy, Natural Gas, Oil on September 7, 2010 | 16 Comments »
In previous posts (most recent here), I noted that oil and natural gas prices have disconnected from their usual historical relationship. For many years, oil prices (as measured in $ per barrel) tended to be 6 to 12 times natural gas prices (as measured in $ per MMBtu). That ratio blew out to more than 20 [...]
Rethinking Oil and Natural Gas Prices
Posted in Energy, Environment, tagged Energy, Natural Gas, Oil on April 9, 2010 | 7 Comments »
My recent post about oil and natural gas prices elicited some very constructive responses from readers (thanks in particular to PJ, MF, and FW, in addition to public commenters on the post). As a result, I’ve rethought my discussion of the relationship between oil and natural gas prices. I was also inspired to look at [...]
Oil and Natural Gas Prices Disconnect Again
Posted in Energy, Environment, tagged Energy, Natural Gas, Oil on April 1, 2010 | 13 Comments »
Update (4/9/10): Please see my follow-up post as well. Last summer I noted that oil and natural gas prices had diverged to an unprecedented degree. I bravely predicted that this divergence would reverse (unbravely, I didn’t predict when). As the chart below shows, I was right: the price relationship did move sharply toward normal levels. [...]
Another Look at Oil and Natural Gas Prices
Posted in Energy, Environment, tagged Energy, Natural Gas, Oil on September 2, 2009 | 6 Comments »
A couple weeks ago, I discussed the remarkable divergence between the prices of oil and natural gas. At the time, the spot price of West Texas Intermediate was above $73 per barrel, while the spot price of natural gas at the Henry Hub was about $3 per MMBtu. The ratio of the two prices was [...]
Dodging the Resource Curse
Posted in Economy, Energy, tagged Norway, Oil, Resource Curse on September 1, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Over the weekend, the Financial Times had a fascinating piece about Farouk al-Kasim, an Iraqi who is credited with saving Norway from the resource curse: Poor countries dream of finding oil like poor people fantasise about winning the lottery. But the dream often turns into a nightmare as new oil exporters realise that their treasure [...]


