Oil hovered above $80 a barrel Thursday June 28, 2012 in Asia amid signs the U.S. economy, the world's largest crude consumer, may be improving.

Benchmark oil for August delivery was up 10 cents at $80.31 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 85 cents to settle at $80.21 in New York on Wednesday.

In London, Brent crude for August delivery was down 40 cents at $93.10 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Read more »

Active drilling in the Marcellus shale is going to solve the United States’ economic problems, and Janney Montgomery Scott knows why.

Not only Janney, but other large financial planning firms, banks, businesses and even the housing market.

Trickle-down.

That, at least, was the consensus of Thought Leadership in the Shale Gas Industry held recently at the University of Pittsburgh. Read more »

There are a few societal costs to the development of shale gas. Potential contamination of groundwater, complications in treating and recycling water used in fracking. Then there’s air pollution from leaking methane (a potent greenhouse gas) and from the diesel-powered rigs and trucks involved in drilling. Read more »

A "build" and a "Twist" knocked oil prices to the floor on Wednesday July 20, 2012.

In the morning, the government announced a surprise increase, or build, in U.S. oil supplies. That told investors that America has a bounty of crude and less need to import more from foreign countries. Then the Federal Reserve extended an interest-rate reduction program known as Operation Twist, but declined to take more aggressive steps to boost the economy.

Together, they sent the price of oil to a nine-month low. Read more »