Green Ink: Congressional Catfights

Crude rebounded from a seven-week low on Israeli saber-rattling, Bloomberg reports, but high prices and falling demand may signal a permanent shift in the market. Meanwhile, there’s more supply—at the north pole. A U.S. government report says 20% of the world’s reserves are in the Arctic, in the WSJ (sub reqd.) and the NYT. Expect more resource nationalism, like China’s fight with Exxon over the tiny Spratly Islands, in the WSJ (sub reqd.). Did the collapse of oil trader SemGroup precipitate crude’s recent decline,? in the WSJ (sub reqd.). People that remember how oil markets used to work—with little price transparency at all—wouldn’t be so nostalgic, at Energy Outlook. Either way, the Senate’s anti-speculation bill looks dead for now, as Republicans prepare to sink it unless there’s compromise on more drilling, in the WSJ... [read full story]