My Blog
Skills Gap Challenges Energy Majors
New graduates are shunning the oil and gas industry in droves, despite the lure of good salaries. What can the industry do to attract top talent?
Energy Journal – Nov 2020
The latest Energy Journal from the International Association of Energy Economics has landed on my doormat with a loud thud. The latest issue is 312 pages long. In Volume 41, Number 6, I was struck by the paper Are Energy Executives Rewarded For Luck? by Lucas Davis...
Energy for a Net Zero Society
The BIEE’s bi-annual research conference will be held on March 30-31, 2021. The conference will focus on building the foundations and policies of the low carbon transition aimed at achieving a net zero carbon society in a way that is fair and just. It will address how we live, work and travel, and how policy, infrastructure and the private sector can respond to enable the transformation of heat, transport and industry.
Crude oil valuation and pricing
This course explains how refineries can evaluate specific crude oils from the 600 or more crude oil streams available from around the world.
Concrete Steps (Still) Needed
The article below was carried in the December 2018 edition of Power Fuels Tracker, an Interfax publication of which I was editor. Most of the content is still (sadly) relevant. By Peter Stewart, Interfax Chief Energy Analyst “Don’t divide the skin while it’s still on...
IRENA releases Green Hydrogen report
The International Renewable Energy Association IRENA released a major report on the potential for green hydrogen in September 2019. The report is available for download using the button under the photo of the report cover to the left.
IEA releases Future of Hydrogen report
The International Energy Agency IEA released a major report on the potential for hydrogen in June 2019. The report is available for download using the button under the photo of the report cover to the left.
Getting Serious About Net Zero
Energy Policy Conference: Getting Serious About Net Zero The British Institute of Energy Economics held its annual policy conference on 23 September 2019 at the BEIS conference centre near Victoria Station in London. Peter was part of the coordinating committee for...
The New Energy Supplier Landscape
Peter at Resource Economist chaired a panel on the New Energy Supplier Landscape at Gastech2019
Gastech 2019
Peter Stewart spoke on behalf of Interfax at the Gastech conference in Houston, held 17-19 September. Interfax highlighted Global Gas Analytics and Natural Gas Insight publications.

Coal
Coal is an abundant and cheap energy resource but it has a huge environmental and health impact. Coal is the most pollutive of the energy sources used, and it kills millions of people in poorly ventilated homes each year. Coal is increasingly facing competition from natural gas, although some people believe that it has a future if “clean coal” technologies can be improved.

Oil and Gas
The oil and gas majors have an unenviable reputation as lumbering behemoths that make huge amounts of money from producing fuels that cause global warming: big business at its worst. While many of the largest companies are seeking to change their business models, many see too little action being taken too late. Greenwash is part of the problem: oil companies can spend fortunes on expensive PR firms to improve their brand, rather than taking substantive action to improve their carbon footprint. Companies like BP and Shell who have taken radical steps to reconfigure their business, remain pariahs in the eyes of environmentalists.

Renewables
The Brave New World of renewables has faced a triple whammy from the fall in oil and gas prices after Covid-19, the rise of populist governments such as those of Trump in the US who have reversed tighter rules on fossil fuels, and a slowdown in China’s expansion of its solar and wind power sector. Although this has taken its toll on the growth of renewables, costs continue to drop and and the public support of renewables does not seem to be waning.

Future Fuels
Many fuels are in the very early stages of their development but technological breakthroughs are pushing some of these forward at breakneck speed. New catalysts are making hydrogen production cheaper, algae still attracts backers from the finance and investment community, and breakthroughs in nuclear fusion remain possible as the world’s largest fusion plant is built in France. The energy landscape is always changing, and disruptive technological change makes it very difficult to predict which fuels will dominate the future.

Energy and Water
As planetary resources are stretched further by population growth, the availability of water looks likely to become a key determinant of which fuels will have a future, Making energy requires millions of gallons of water, particularly new technologies such as fracking, and so the world’s water resources are under increasing pressure. Intense geopolitical pressures have emerged over the diversion of water resources through the use of dams, and many people expect the next major war will be over water supplies rather than oil supplies.

Natural Resources
Resource availability will remain a challenge as the world moves away from fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal to renewable sources and energy storage. The battery industry faced its first major price shock in 2017 when lithium and cobalt supplies, which are limited geographically, were unable to keep up with growing demand.
Crude oil valuation and pricing
This course explains how refineries can evaluate specific crude oils from the 600 or more crude oil streams available from around the world.
Course List
Resource Economist Ltd offers training courses in oil and gas, energy fundamentals, price forecasting and the interaction between fossil fuels and the renewable energies. The courses are delivered by Peter Stewart and his associates, who can arrange them on a bespoke basis or through training and consulting companies with which he is associated.
Gas market fundamentals
Course title: Gas market fundamentals Course Code: GASFUN Course summary: The 3-day course Gas Market Fundamentals explains the key drivers of the oil, gas, coal and power markets, and the interactions between the competing fuels. The course outlines the three main...
Forecasting crude oil and oil products prices
Course title: Forecasting crude oil and oil products prices Course Code: FCPP Course summary: The 4-day course Forecasting Crude Oil and Oil Products Prices explains the key drivers of crude oil and oil product prices, and explains how these can be forecast in a...
Energy Trading, Pricing and Regulation
Course title: Energy Trading, Pricing and Regulation
Course Code: ETPR
Energy Fundamentals
Course title: Energy Fundamentals Course Code: ESCF Course summary: The 4-day course Energy Fundamentals explains the value chain from upstream to downstream for oil, gas and coal, and examines how renewable forms of energy fit in to the overall energy supply-demand...
Forecasting Energy Prices
Course title: Forecasting Energy Prices Course Code: FEPR Course summary: The 4-day course Forecasting Energy Prices explains the key drivers of the oil, gas, coal and power markets, and the interactions between the competing fuels. The course outlines the three main...