A Free-Market Energy Blog

Fraser Institute Survey: Where Is the Best Oil and Gas Investment Climate? (South Dakota #1; New York State #102)

By Gerry Angevine -- July 2, 2010

South Dakota is the No. 1 place in the world for oil and gas investment, according to the Global Petroleum Survey 2010, an annual survey of international petroleum executives and managers conducted by the Fraser Institute, one of the world’s leading free-market think-tanks.

Results of the survey include:

· South Dakota, which was ranked seventh out of 143 jurisdictions in 2009, vaulted into the No. 1 spot out of 133 jurisdictions included in this year’s survey results.

· Along with South Dakota, American states claimed eight of the top 10 spots this year: Texas (second), Illinois (third), Wyoming (fourth), Mississippi (sixth), Utah (seventh), Oklahoma (ninth), and Alabama (10th).

· New York is the lowest ranked state at 102nd.

· Austria, ranked fifth, is the only jurisdiction outside North America to make the top 10.

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Harvard Business Review Article: BP as Environmental Role Model (Part III on global warming as the great environmental distraction)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 1, 2010

[Editor note: Part I in this series reviewed the praise for BP and Enron from the Worldwatch Institute. Part II delved into the reasons that BP tried to rebrand itself as “beyond petroleum.”]

“Such [progressive] leadership [on climate change] may give BP Amoco better access to government-controlled oil deposits and more operating flexibility.”

– Kimberly O’Neill Packard and Forest Reinhardt, “What Every Executive Needs to Know About Global Warming,” Harvard Business Review, July/August 2000.

The Worldwatch Institute sang the praises of BP’s it’s-a-problem, we-can-solve-it approach to climate change. Far Left environmentalist Joe Romm featured John Browne/BP in his book Cool Companies as a leading example of corporations going green for profits and virtue.

Both Worldwatch and Romm were wrong–dead wrong–about BP, just as they were also wrong about climate-alarmist Enron and Ken Lay.…

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Blowout Prevention Act–or Oil-Production Prevention Act?

By -- June 30, 2010

Today, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Environment will hold a hearing on the Blowout Prevention Act of 2010. A draft of the legislation and other pertinent documents are available on the Subcommittee’s Web site.

Although the draft legislation and hearing documents address serious problems brought to light by the Committee’s ongoing investigations, the Blowout Prevention Act would throw the baby out with the bath water.

To restate the obvious, although oil spills are bad, oil is good. Without oil, there would be no modern commerce and no mechanized agriculture. Life for most people would be “nasty, brutish, and short,” and many of us would not even be alive. Another obvious point — British Petroleum (BP) is to blame for the worst environmental disaster in U.S.…

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BP’s ‘Beyond Petroleum’: Climate Alarmism as the Great Environmental Distraction (Part II: Why the ‘greenwashing’?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 29, 2010
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They Loved BP and Enron: Climate Alarmism as the Great Environmental Distraction (Part I: Worldwatch Institute quotations)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 28, 2010
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Robert Bryce on Natural Gas Vehicles

By Robert Bryce -- June 26, 2010
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Smart Meter Chaos: Maryland PSC Gets Real (consumerism, anyone?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 25, 2010
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Wind Integration vs. Air Emission Reductions: A Primer for Policymakers

By Mary Hutzler -- June 24, 2010
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Obama’s BP Time (“We’re from the government and here to help you”)

By -- June 23, 2010
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America’s Gift: High Technology and Lower Prices (peak gas not!)

By Donald Hertzmark -- June 22, 2010
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