It’s hard to imagine a worse setting: A seemingly endless horizon of giant steel storage tanks holding 50 million barrels of crude oil, a spiderweb of pipelines, pumps, compressors and terminals, and a critical confluence of big corporations and international energy market money. And a city of about 8,000 nearby. Law enforcement has long feared [...]
The U.S. Energy Information Agency used to use West Texas Intermediate as the price benchmark for its oil forecasts. But not anymore. The agency will has dumped WTI, which is priced at Oklahoma’s Cushing oil hub, and will use North Sea Brent for its energy outlook. So why did the oil lose its status? The blame [...]
Oil production in Oklahoma has strong geographic trends and economic importance. How does your county compare? Explore our interactive map.
While “energy independence” has become a political talking point, the goal of reducing the country’s foreign energy reliance is a big deal in petroleum-rich states like Oklahoma. But if the U.S. achieved energy independence, would ordinary Americans even notice? David Kestenbaum from NPR’s Planet Money team explored one everyday energy issue in Canada, America’s energy [...]
Debates over American energy policy often center on the environment and independence. But states like Oklahoma depend on petroleum — especially workers in the oil and gas fields. Technology has fueled a boom and revolutionized production, but the task of extracting oil and gas is still hands-on, high-pressure and high-risk. Politicians argue over industry regulation, [...]
Oklahoma, as we’ve reported, both benefits and suffers from an uneven crude oil market. The price of West Texas Intermediate — priced at Cushing — is depressed, which is bad for the region’s producers and state revenue coffers. But low crude prices might be a good thing for drivers in Oklahoma and the mid-continent, who [...]
Low natural gas prices are a worry, but they shouldn’t lead to a state budget hole, says Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger. “In fact, we’re expecting to end this fiscal year with a surplus that could exceed $300 million,” he said in a statement. Why? Mostly because of oil. “”We’ve seen record sales tax collections [...]
What you need to know about the corrosive claims that Keystone XL’s oil is especially risky.
Oklahoma is in an unlikely economic predicament: It has too much oil.
Tulsa-based natural gas distributor ONEOK is entering the crude oil business. The company on Monday announced plans to build a 1,300-mile pipeline from Bakken Shale play in North Dakota to the market hub in Cushing. The Bakken Crude Express pipeline project will cost between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion. Construction on the pipeline could start [...]
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