I am more bullish about CCS than many of my peers but this is a stunning chart about our inability to predict how technologies can evolve. At this point, I think it's up to the proponents of CCS to prove that the technology can scale up. projects.propublica.org/why-carbon-c...

I’m a soft rock geologist, but what I remember learning in grad school is the faults in N Venezuela are like the San Andreas but oriented E-W. Max magnitude if the whole brittle layer (lithosphere) ruptures is 7.5-8. This is what that looks like.

Gasoline prices will not come down soon because of infrastructure damage to Persian Gulf facilities and uncertainty in whatever these negotiations bring. And I’m glad my wild-ass guess of gas prices aligned with what another of Max’s sources said! 😅 All this and more: abcnews.com/amp/Business...

I deleted a post earlier but F it - this regime is at odds with the health and wellbeing of its population. My children have received the full course of this vaccine. It is safe, full stop. This makes me so angry.

Waxing crescent moon and Venus seen while taking out the trash, Hyde Park ATX. Love how the long camera exposure captured the full moon face illuminated by earthglow. My dad calls this “the old moon in the new moon’s arms”

“Hey Hugh, when will gas prices come down?” Labor Day at best.

I’ve got some thoughts on the strategic petroleum reserve! But not good, as usual. Are we cooked? Probably, but not for a few weeks.

Your quote for today: Daigle said it’s more of a slow-moving crisis. And the main threat to consumers is a drastic change in price. “As we keep drawing down the reserve, you're really limiting your ability to further control the prices that people are paying for refined products.”

A coccolith, but made out of millstones. Miller Row, Edinburgh.

Beautiful sedimentary structures (truncations, cross bedding, etc) in the sandstone blocks at Stirling Castle

Had a great time hosting everybody here at our workshop last week! Scientific ocean drilling is at a crossroads right now but we hope to keep pushing the science forward.

I totally called this on Saturday. And how much did we make on predictive markets? www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05...

It’s amazing how fast we went from “we need more transmission in Texas to diversify electricity sources and meet demand” in the wake of Uri & summer 2024 to “we just need more natural gas generation.” Short memories, y‘all. www.kxan.com/energy-cross...

This conflict started over 2 months ago, and that’s why it’ll take months to years for prices to come down whenever it ends. Tankers are slow and the earth is big.

This may be the most ridiculous fact check in the history of fact checks, but hey, I gotta stand up for truth. Happy to hit this hanging curve ball from Lou. www.politifact.com/factchecks/2...

Good example of why this such a slow-moving crisis. The last California-bound tanker out of the Strait of Hormuz JUST ARRIVED at Long Beach. Yes, it takes that long. CA consumers will be hit with higher gas prices in 6 weeks regardless of any movement with Iran. www.politifact.com/factchecks/2...

Good night y’all, next time

Great seats for ATX vs HOU tonight! Fun to see a home win.

If you want to ask me about the oil market, start here!

Geologist here - Italy is known for high-quality metamorphic rocks, for example Carrara marble. But many iconic buildings in DC are made of New Hampshire granite from the Concord pluton, an intrusive igneous rock mined 15 miles from where i grew up.

Starting a mid-decade redistricting war only to end up with -1 seats is the same fine strategic genius and subtle grasp of game theory that brough us the Strait of Hormuz.

Make faculty meetings spicy with one simple slide

A vibes-based commodity market is problematic

Schrödinger’s strait

Not a great firefly showing in our yard due to the drought, but we have a few. Pardon my younger son’s collapsed goal; future footballer

Picked up an issue of Nat Geo from August 1988 at a Little Free Library down the street - check out this ad! Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

I love how Peter Magyar beating Orban is like someone named Peter American ran here and won

I was on the local news explaining how renewable energy protects you from price shocks! I had to remove my glasses due to glare from my lights, apologies for the serious appearance youtu.be/wmoysr0rsG4?...

Relevant again- low-carbon energy insulates you from global price shocks

Depluralize a movie: Return of the Jedus

If I am not mistaken, the S3P program, which is the successor to the US support for IODP, is now part of the GEO infrastructure package which is proposed to be cut overall by 49.7%. Not great.

Spotted in the wild in Hyde Park

I’m going to get a dozen fact check requests tomorrow, aren’t I 😔

Why are you going to be tired tomorrow? You’ll just have finished a 31-day march. *ducks*

I was on @marketplace.org with pessimistic projections about oil prices if the hostilities continue. Maybe I’m wrong! But even now there’s months of high prices baked in. Will this accelerate the energy transition? www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...

The Bab El-Mandeb and Strait of Hormuz have similar widths, but thanks to plate tectonics the former is getting wider while the latter is getting narrower.

This is going to supplant Daniel Yergin’s article about The North Face as the motivation for my class this fall. What are we transitioning energy to? And why? Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/m...

I don’t gamble but I think it’s a sure bet some TACO jawboning will happen early Monday and we’ll have a rinse-and-repeat of this week, but maybe ending higher next Friday. But, remember @atrupar.com is off so anything is possible.

Y‘all know that if you google “Yankees vs Giants“ it shows you the score for free ?

Meanwhile, in the parking garage at UT Austin

This is a big problem. Like I’ve been saying all along, US isn’t importing a lot from Middle East but this gets us where it hurts - impacting MX/VZ imports and refining.

As a geologist, again I posit that the closing of the Tethys Sea was the biggest mistake we made, and we’re still living with the consequences.

And yes, I was also on @marketplace.org talking about how this is worse than the 1970s energy crises. This is an historic moment & I’m glad to help put it in context. www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...

Had a fun time talking to The Source on Texas Public Radio about *waves hands* all this oil market stuff. www.tpr.org/podcast/the-...

Randomly got a redbonnet in our bluebonnet patch this year 🤷‍♂️

First Austin FC game with the boys. Good seats, and an exciting 0-0 draw vs LAFC!

When I'm not posting on here or talking to reporters about oil markets I do have a day job where I get to work on cool stuff like slope failure in shelf-edge deltas. This has been a fun collaboration with @clasticslab.bsky.social! And a great 3D seismic dataset.

Ahem you might want to pay attention to the Caspian, which accounts for 3% of daily global consumption?

Drove past 2 gas stations in Austin with signs in front that said “No gas shortage“, things are fine here in TX 🫠

Welcome to bizarroworld, where normies suddenly know and care where Kharg Island and South Pars are (and whose assets are to the south of South Pars!)