Cast iron is a pretty durable material when it comes to, say, skillets. But for gas and oil pipelines?  As it turns out, not so much. Cast and wrought iron were the metals of choice for pipelines constructed in the US prior to 1940.  Even after steel pipelines came into vogue during t

If you’ve ever stared at your local coffee house menu board, completely baffled by the names and choices, then learning about the variety of crude oils extracted from the ground might be an equally mind-boggling experience… only without the caffeine kick afterward. But understanding h

For decades, petroleum engineers have known of vast quantities of oil trapped under the ground in Colorado’s oil shale rock.  And for decades, oil companies have been struggling to find an economically viable way to release that oil from the underground rock. The most abundant oil sha

It’s been called “an opportunity we can’t miss.” It’s been promised to be the thing that will “single-handedly” turn California’s economy around, increasing state and local tax revenue by $4.5 billion and bringing in some 2.8 million jobs by 2020. It’s the much-hyped California shale

For the past 40 years, Alaska’s economy has been supported almost exclusively by its oil and gas industry.  As a matter of fact, about 93% of the state’s general fund revenues come from oil production, and about one-third of its jobs are oil-related.  To put it in perspective just how