Mid-Week Review

Diesel Price Shock Creeps Closer

• “[T]he rules could boost diesel prices by 20 percent to 30 percent” – IEA
• “It will dwarf anything we’ve seen as an external cost on the industry.” – John Butler, CEO of the World Shipping Council
• “Everybody missed this in our industry…No one knows about this” – Glen Kedzie, VP of Energy for the American Trucking Association
• “They’ll be wondering why all of a sudden their fuel prices went skyrocketing.” – Chuck Paar, member of the Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association

A Decade of Fracking Research: What Have We Learned?

Fracking is a technological revolution in the oil and gas space. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, consists of injecting water, sand, and proprietary chemical blends into oil fields to fracture rocks and facilitate oil flowing to the pipe. The technology has existed for decades, but gained popularity in the 2000s when applied in shale formations. Some have expressed concerns that fracking has negative environmental and health implications, but does it? After a decade of research, we’re a bit closer to having an answer.

How Smart Cities Will Improve Trucking and the Supply Chain

Imagine a future where a red light can automatically tell vehicles to slow, or where truck suspension was smart enough to prevent overweight trailers? That’s the future of Smart Cities, where technology and the “Internet of Things” (IoT) improve safety and reduce inefficiencies like weigh stations. As urbananization continues, more thought will need to be put into making our cities livable, and technology will play a major role.

Mega-Oil Projects Are Back

After years of trepidation towards large oil projects, major oil companies are beginning a new round of investments. The oil price crash in 2014 caused many projects to go underwater, and exorbitant cost blowouts (to the tune of $80 billion during the $100-crude era) put a bad taste in the industry’s mouth. Now, however, E&P companies feel they have their costs under better control and are planning to spend $300 billion on mega-projects in 2019 and 2020. Scaling up will be a challenge though – many major oilfield services companies have smaller workforces now than in 2014, so onboarding enough talent to keep up with demand will be difficult.