Industry Insights & Opinions Archives

The United States can see every barrel; it does not control where they go

June 2, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – The United States possesses the most capable financial surveillance system and the most sophisticated space-based intelligence architecture in the world. It can track cargoes leaving Iranian terminals, identify tankers operating without signals, reconstruct shipments conducted in the dark, and map the commercial networks moving those barrels across oceans. There is no

Energy scarcity is not a trade; it’s a condition

June 1, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – The global energy conversation is stuck in a loop. Prices rise, pundits shout “demand destruction,” politicians promise relief, and models dutifully predict reversion. Then reality fails to cooperate. Again. What’s being missed is simple but uncomfortable: much of what looks like volatility today is actually structure asserting itself. Oil, refined products,

360 Energy Pulse: What mattered in energy this month- oil and gas 360

360 Energy Pulse: What mattered this month in energy

May 31, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) – May may ultimately be remembered as the month energy markets stopped treating geopolitical disruption as temporary and started pricing it as structural. What began as rising tension around the Strait of Hormuz evolved into something broader: tighter inventories, shifting trade flows, renewed LNG urgency, and growing concern that the global energy system has far

May rewired global energy markets

May 31, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) – May was supposed to be about stabilization. Instead, it became another month dominated by geopolitical disruption, volatile oil prices, shifting LNG flows, accelerating energy consolidation, and rising concerns about the long-term reliability of global supply. At the center of nearly everything remained the Iran conflict and the continued disruption surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, one of

360 Energy Pulse: What mattered this week in energy

May 29, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) – May 22, 2026– Energy markets spent the week caught between diplomacy and distrust. Headlines pointing toward a possible U.S.–Iran agreement pressured prices lower, but underneath the surface, inventories continue tightening, LNG concerns are growing, and confidence in global shipping routes remains fragile. Markets may be hoping for resolution, but they’re still pricing risk. THIS

Iran is turning Hormuz into leverage

May 29, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) – What began as wartime disruption has evolved into something far more strategic, Iran is increasingly turning access through Hormuz into geopolitical and economic leverage. The shift is becoming more visible by the week as Tehran expands operational control, imposes new transit procedures, and reshapes how commercial shipping moves through one of the world’s most important

From oilfields to magnets: How the U.S. is quietly rebuilding its critical minerals backbone

May 29, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – For years, America’s rare‑earth and critical‑minerals problem was framed as a single failure: too much dependence on China, too little domestic mining. That framing was incomplete. What is emerging now is not a race to simply dig faster. It is a coordinated effort to rebuild capability across an entire system—using defense

Why oil and gas is becoming a data business

May 28, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) Part II – Oil and gas companies once measured competitive advantage in barrels, acreage, and reserves; now they are increasingly measuring it in processing power, analytics capability, and data quality. Because the next phase of the industry is not just about producing hydrocarbons more efficiently, it is about understanding markets, assets, infrastructure, and risk faster

Energy Market Assessment: The climate is still minimizing natural gas demand

May 28, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) – The Climate Still Minimizing Natural Gas Demand, Prices And Expectations Have A Notable Summer Rally Set Up. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 setting new highs need a Drilling Boom to keep fueling prosperity production and value increasing. Quite a few are pleasantly surprised by the NASDAQ (Figure 1, green line) and S&P 500 (blue line) setting

Calling all Wildcatters: The structure of American oil power: Rock, policy, and the future of conventional supply

May 28, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – The difference between Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United States ultimately resolves into a simple question: how much oil is there, how much can be produced, and how certain is that production? The only way to answer that question rigorously is with numbers. The United States still possesses a vast hydrocarbon

AI is rewiring the oilfield

May 27, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) Part I – For decades, the oilfield was built on horsepower, steel, and geology. Now it is increasingly being built on algorithms. Artificial intelligence and digital technologies are rapidly transforming how oil and gas companies drill wells, complete reservoirs, manage production, and reduce operational costs. What was once considered one of the world’s most traditional

The Appalachian Basin: The Gas Province That Made America the World’s LNG Superpower

May 27, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – If the Permian Basin is America’s oil engine, the Appalachian Basin is its natural gas foundation. Stretching across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, eastern Ohio, and parts of surrounding states, Appalachia has quietly become the largest natural gas producing basin in the United States—and one of the most consequential gas provinces in the

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