Dr. Ian Dexter Palmer is a frequent contributor to Forbes.com. Read the articles below:

COP28 Results After Two Weeks Of Dancing Around Oil And Gas

Originally published on Forbes.com on December 13, 2023

COP28 may go down in history as the first of COP meetings to address an energy transition that includes all fossil fuels – especially one that was headed by the CEO of a large oil and gas company. Read more

Conversation With Marga Hoek

Originally published on Forbes.com on November 28, 2023

Conversation With Marga Hoek About Tech For Good, A Growing Business Concept That Includes Oil And Gas.

Is the oil and gas industry embracing new-era technology for positive environmental and social impact? Read more

How to Get Heat And Electricity From Hydrogen

Originally published on Forbes.com on November 9, 2023

Heat to 700 degrees C in a few minutes, without combustion. This could replace industrial coal or oil burners and change the energy paradigm. Read more

ExxonMobil Plus Pioneer Are Shaping The Energy Transition

Originally published on Forbes.com on October 24, 2023

A vision for emissions, CCS, and hydrogen are making the company an indispensable influence-shaper for the oilfield as well as climate projects. Read more

Another Mega-Merger, But ExxonMobil Plus Pioneer Will Be The Influence-Shaper For Oil And Climate

Originally published on Forbes.com on October 10, 2023

The Permian basin may become a blueprint for a high-performance supply chain from upstream drilling to LNG and petrochemical products. Read more

California Lawsuit: Oil Companies, Global Warming, Climate Change, Deception: What The Jury Has To Consider. Part 2.

Originally published on Forbes.com on September 29, 2023

Data reveals less urgency about temperatures rising another 0.25C. And the role of big oil in killer weather extremes is less even though they produce 50% of carbon emissions. Read more.

California Lawsuit: Oil Companies, Global Warming, Climate Change, Deception: What The Jury Needs To Know. Part 1.

Originally published on Forbes.com on September 26, 2023

If there has been deception, was it due to oil majors deliberately misleading the public or merely expressing uncertainty about the effects of climate change? Read more

A Transformative Leap To Control Carbon Emissions

Originally published on Forbes.com on September 12, 2023

But the costs of CCS projects under these conditions would imply higher prices at the gas station and steeper electricity costs from coal- or gas-burning power plants. Read more

Politics Are Getting Into The Oil-Renewable Energy Dilemma.

Originally published on Forbes.com on August 21, 2023

In Texas and New Mexico, one threat is losing energy security via cheap gasoline and electricity, oil company profits, and jobs. The other is the threat of weather extremes caused by climate change. Read more

Permian Oil And Gas Success In New Mexico And Texas

Originally published on Forbes.com on August 15, 2023

Renewable energy growth in Texas and New Mexico is only a partial success. Getting off fossil fuels to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 is an unrealistic goal. Read more.

The U.S. Is Watching Battery Deployment And Success Down Under.

Originally published on Forbes.com on July 18, 2023

70% of South Australia’s electricity comes from renewable sources which was achieved in 16 years. On 180 separate days in 2021, renewables met 100% of electricity demand. Read more.

3 Reasons Oil And Gas Should Keep An Eye On The Battery Transition

Originally published on Forbes.com on July 18, 2023

Surging batteries are a proxy for displacing gasoline in cars and trucks, and for displacing coal and natural gas in power plants.

Electricity generation uses the most energy in the U.S., followed by transportation, then industrial sectors. But climate goals and renewable energies may seriously change the future of oil and gas production. One of the keys to the adoption of renewable energies is batteries, and their deployment is changing rapidly. Read more.

How To Better Predict Hurricanes And Droughts For Oil Industry And Climate Change.

Originally published on Forbes.com on July 10, 2023

A genetic model can improve predictions of hurricane strength, track, and landfall.

Extreme weather events can be important to the oil and gas industry. Hurricanes dodging offshore platforms dotted about in the Gulf of Mexico. Droughts that limit water supplies in high-volume fracking for shale oil plays. Read more.

Vicki Hollub and Joe Biden – What In The World Do They Have In Common?

Originally published on Forbes.com on June 21, 2023

This article looks into energy security and the energy transition and finds these two influencers have common interests that are surprising. Read more.

Here’s How Oil And Gas Companies Are Jumping On Hydrogen, But Is It Over-Rated

Originally published on Forbes.com on June 8, 2023

Hydrogen fuel is garnering lots of press and PR about an exciting new industry but investments are small, headwinds exist, and payoffs are uncertain. Read more

Hydrogen Is Ramping Up In The Energy Transition

Originally published on Forbes.com on May 30, 2023

Hydrogen Is Ramping Up In The Energy Transition, But It May Be Oversold

A hydrogen industry may take a large bite out of the 5-7% hard-to-abate emissions of the world’s energy by 2050, but the biggest chunk of total emissions still remains 93-95%. Read more

No Room For Both In The Permian

Originally published on Forbes.com on May 21, 2023

No Room For Both In The Permian – Oil And Gas Versus Nuclear Waste

The proposed Holtec nuclear waste repository in southeast New Mexico would be surrounded by hundreds of oil and gas wells. The induced earthquake risk at the Holtec site needs to be re-evaluated — another reason for the state to say no. Read more

Put Your Money On The Permian – The Phar Lap Of Oil And Gas Basins

Originally published on Forbes.com on April 25, 2023

Permian crude oil will grow steadily from 5.7 MMbpd now to possibly 8 MMbpd by 2030, and total U.S. production may reach 13.3 MMbpd by 2050.

Phar Lap was a champion racehorse bred in New Zealand and raced in Australia. He won 37 races from 51 starts, including the 1930 Melbourne Cup, and was an inspiration to people in the early years of the Great Depression. His death was from lead poisoning in the US, but the cause is controversial. His heart was 50% heavier than average for racehorses and was returned to the National Museum in Australia. Phar Lap and Secretariat have been called the greatest two racehorses in the world. Read more

More on the Golden Age Of Liquefied Natural Gas

Originally published on Forbes.com on April 4, 2023

LNG will be a strong driver of U.S. natural gas production over the next seven years. The U.S. may double its exports, or more, from now to 2030. One optimistic blockbuster is $100 billion in new LNG developments in the U.S. Read more

The Golden Age For Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

Originally published on Forbes.com March 1, 2023

Within two years, LNG has replaced all of the lost gas from Russia. US export revenues of LNG grew exponentially in the last six years. Export volumes and wealth from LNG could potentially lead to $100 billion in new LNG developments in the US. Read more.

Second Shot At Carbon Capture From Coal Burner To Revive Oil Reservoir In Texas — Petra Nova Do-Over.

Originally published on Forbes.com on February 20, 2023

Carbon capture and storage can’t save the US oil and gas industry in its current form. But a Petra Nova re-start might open a door to reduce carbon emissions from thousands of power plants in China and India that say they won’t achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Looking back on Petra Nova.  

Petra Nova was a CCS demonstration out of Houston, supported by the US federal government. CCS stands for carbon capture and storage. At Petra Nova, CO2 was captured from a coal-fired power plant smokestack and injected into an old oil field to boost oil production. The federal support came by way of promises to save coal. Read more

Bp 2023 Energy Outlook

Originally published on Forbes.com on February 16, 2023

Bp are dialing back, but not giving up, their investment in renewables. This makes sense to capitalize on higher oil and gas prices and sustain energy security during the war on Ukraine.

BP Energy Outlook 2023: War Accelerates Oil And Gas Decline, Instability Pushes Renewables To 60%, Russian Energy Takes A Hit.

bp has just presented its 2023 Energy Outlook. This annual survey, and the data analysis behind it, is highly regarded. Read More

Fracking Fleets Powered By Associated Gas – Results And Significant Savings In The Permian Basin.

Originally published on Forbes.com on January 30, 2023

A natural gas processor mounted on a truck provides a clever way to reduce diesel fuel usage in frac pumps and at the same time lower carbon emissions.

The world can address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in different ways. The direct way is by reducing fossil fuel production, which generates 73% of global GHG.

This is the approach in Europe, perhaps because its energy companies do not have the success of a shale revolution to maintain. Europe has several examples of integrating renewables into its future.

In the US, companies have adopted less-direct approaches, including greening operations, cleaning up gas flaring and methane leaks, and carbon capture and storage. Read more.

In West Texas, Water Is Scarce For Fracking

Originally published on Forbes.com on January 26, 2023

In West Texas, Water Is Scarce For Fracking, Expensive For Recycling, Cheap For Disposal Wells, And It Causes M5 Earthquakes.

While West Texas and New Mexico are wrestling with water-related problems, their oil production is booming along with larger magnitude earthquakes.

The Permian basin of West Texas and New Mexico is desert for the most part. The desert is called the Chihuahuan but is not a raw desert like the Sahara, but a desert due to on average 10 inches of rainfall per annum. Sparse, scrubby bushes like creosote and mesquite and a few big trees, like Cottonwoods exist along creekbeds that carry water. Water is scarce in the Permian. But not oil! Read more

Integrating Fossil Interests And Climate Initiatives

Originally published on Forbes.com on January 23, 2023

Integrating Fossil Interests And Climate Initiatives – Big Steps For UAE — A Small Country In A Cradle Of Oil And Gas.

UAE has made significant steps toward greening, and the next chairman of the climate gathering COP28 is from the state-owned oil company ADNOC – expect skirmishes of vested interests. Read more.

A Fresh Reading Of Exxon’s Predictions Of Global Warming And Climate Change From 40 Years Ago.

Originally published on Forbes.com on January 17, 2023

An Exxon study done in 1982 focused on global warming by increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Remarkably, thirty-seven years ago Exxon accurately predicted that by 2019, the earth would hit a carbon dioxide concentration of 415 ppm and a temperature increase of almost 1°C (Figure 1). Read more

Occidental Presentation Implies Strong Years Coming For Energy Security

Originally published on Forbes.com on January 12, 2023

Forecast data shows the pendulum is swinging towards energy security and away from climate security.

The pandemic of 2020-2021, the recovery in 2021, and the Russian war on Ukraine in 2022 have destabilized the oil and gas industry tremendously. Out of this chaos, what will 2023 bring? One thoughtful answer has been given by Shauna Noonan of Occidental. The answer is comforting to the industry but distressing to proponents of climate change. Read more.