CIR Research Desk

The U.S. shale revolution created an enormous surplus of light, sweet crude — the kind that flows easily from tight formations and commands a premium for its low sulfur content. But refineries are not interchangeable. A Gulf Coast coker complex designed around medium-sour Mexican or Venezuelan crude cannot simply

The U.S. upstream industry has demonstrated remarkable productivity gains over the past decade. Lateral lengths have doubled. Completion intensity has tripled. Well costs per foot of lateral have declined. And yet, periodically, the industry runs into a problem that no amount of drilling innovation can solve: infrastructure that can&

The dog days of summer have arrived — and with them, a critical test for U.S. natural gas markets. Record heat across the South and Southwest is pushing power demand to multi-year highs, raising a question that investors have been wrestling with since the start of 2025: is this

Federal leasing policy for oil and gas is one of those topics that generates enormous political heat relative to its near-term operational impact — but where the long-term supply implications are genuinely significant. As of mid-2025, the industry is operating under a policy environment that has shifted considerably

The Waha Hub in West Texas became infamous in 2024 for something that sounded absurd until you understood the mechanics: natural gas prices went deeply negative. On multiple occasions throughout 2024, Waha spot prices fell below zero — meaning producers were effectively paying to have their gas taken away. By early