Oil prices tumbled 5 percent Thursday September 22, 2011 after some of the world's top financial officials gave a gloomy reading on the international economy.

Oil, a bellwether that tracks the market's mood, has dropped 29 percent since April as high unemployment, weak consumer confidence and expensive gasoline slowed down global growth. Read more »

Arkansas has sufficient regulations to manage the state’s natural gas industry but is running out of grant money for extra help brought in to monitor gas operations, the head of the state’s pollution control agency told lawmakers today.

Teresa Marks, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality, said a $1.09 million grant that allowed her department to hire four additional natural gas inspectors, a supervisor and two enforcement analysts runs out at the end of the fiscal year in June. Read more »

Gov. Tom Corbett is putting the finishing touches on a welcome-back-to-session gift to lawmakers: his plan for overseeing and charging a fee on Marcellus Shale gas drilling.

That draft legislation is one of the most highly anticipated proposals this fall in the state Capitol, where senators will return Monday to tackle unfinished business. The House reconvenes Sept. 26. Read more »

Oil prices will likely rise to about $130 a barrel in the next 12 months as demand in emerging markets such as China and India make up for weak developed world growth, Goldman Sachs said Thursday.

Despite concerns about the U.S. economy and eurozone sovereign debt, which have hit crude prices due to an expected fall in demand, the Wall Street giant forecast commodity prices to remain buoyant. Read more »