Ian Palmer

3 days ago | forbes.com | Ian Palmer

An oilfield operator who owns small stripper wells in Oklahoma is nervous. A long-time Republican, Andrew was initially happy with President Trump’s mantra of drill, baby, drill. But then he realized that more drilling by big oil companies would lower the price of oil, which was what Trump wanted to offset inflation. Then came the on-again, off-again tariff games that are a new threat to oil price. Andrew lamented, “I just don’t know anymore.

1 week ago | forbes.com | Ian Palmer

President Trump issued new executive orders, on Tuesday April 8, 2025, that would try to reverse the decline of the coal industry in the U.S. This about-face for coal is driven by the administration’s goal to become number 1 in the world of AI (artificial intelligence). The success of AI depends on data centers that store billions of words and pictures, and data centers need a huge amount of electricity to run. How much electricity?

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | Ian Palmer

So why is the oil and gas industry interested in providing electrical power that can be generated by gas turbines? First, learned industry people are predicting peak oil around 2030; oil declines after this. Second, natural gas is likely to grow, particularly LNG (liquified naturel gas). But there are headwinds: uncertainties in LNG due to such long-term investments, and solar/storage batteries are now cheaper than new-build gas power plants.

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | Ian Palmer

Global Electricity Consumption. So why is the oil and gas industry interested in providing electrical power that can be generated by gas turbines? First, learned industry people are predicting peak oil around 2030; oil declines after this. Second, natural gas is likely to grow, particularly LNG (liquified naturel gas). But there are headwinds: uncertainties in LNG due to such long-term investments, and solar/storage batteries are now cheaper than new-build gas power plants.

1 month ago | forbes.com | Ian Palmer |Yessar Rosendar |Naazneen Karmali |Jonathan Burgos

Mike Cannon-Brookes is cofounder and CEO of collaboration software firm Atlassian, based in Sydney. He and cofounder Scott Farquhar started the company soon after graduating from college, funding it with credit cards. In 2023, he took over Sydney based renewable energy outfit Sun Cable. It was a joint venture with fellow billionaire Andrew Forrest but they fell out. He acquired a minority stake in Australian energy company AGL Energy in 2022. In 2023, he separated from Annie, his wife of 13 years.