Oil dropped below $100 per barrel after an international energy watchdog expresses "serious concern" about the negative effect of higher prices on the global economy.

Benchmark oil contract fell about 12 percent since setting a two-year high of $113.93 on April 29. The International Energy Agency says oil is still too high and is cutting into household and business incomes. The agency warns that there's "urgent need" for additional supplies to be made available to refineries. Read more »

East Texas and Northwest Louisiana residents might not realize it, but they have been sitting amid a revolution in the energy industry the past four years.

Steven Holditch, chairman of Texas A&M’s Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, told people attending the Second Annual East Texas Conference of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners this past week that the unconventional extraction of energy from deep geological formations such as the Haynesville Shale is on the forefront of using the latest in technology. Read more »

Oil settled higher on Friday May 13, 2011, pushed up by lingering concerns that refineries in the Southeast may be affected by Mississippi River flooding.

Benchmark crude for June delivery settled at $99.65 per barrel, up 68 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has been volatile this week, ranging from $95 to $104 a barrel.

It gained two and a half percent for the week after losing 15 percent last week. Read more »

Surging oil prices drove the U.S. trade deficit further into the red in March, according to government data released Wednesday May 11, 2011.

The trade balance, which measures the difference between the nation's imports and exports, burgeoned to a $48.2 billion deficit in March from $45.4 billion in February, the Commerce Department said.

Economists were expecting the deficit to grow due to rising commodity prices, but the gap came in even deeper than the $47.7 billion they had expected. Read more »