Oil Exports Bring Boom Times To Texas Port

A surge in production in the Permian Basin of west Texas—-already the nation’s highest producing oilfield — is extracting more crude oil than refiners in Texas can handle. But now, producers in the Permian have new outlets for that oil with economic implications hundreds of miles away from the flatlands of west Texas. Based on crude oil export projections, port officials say they expect to add 5000 direct and indirect jobs in 2017. 

“This is not a bubble, this is real growth,” said vessel traffic controller Mike Stineman, as he scanned real time navigation charts indicating vessel traffic at the port. Radio chatter between vessels, the Coast Guard and the Vessel Control Center provided a non-stop soundtrack of the the pulse of the port. A longtime ban on U.S. crude exports was lifted last year.

Inside Energy Teams Up With Reveal In ‘Standing Rock And Beyond’

The pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation last year drew national attention. Inside Energy teamed up with the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal to go behind the scenes and meet the young people who started the fight. The program looks at how those protests put at-risk teens on a healthier path, and how other Native American tribes are grappling with energy projects on their sovereign land.

Hedges, Zombies And Strippers: Oil In 2016

2015 was a year marked by a dramatic reversal of fortune in the oil industry. Crude oil prices dropped down to a third of their 2014 highs, effectively pouring ice water on America’s shale revolution. What does that mean for the year ahead?