Untapped resources: Adapting the technology that powered the shale oil boom in Texas to the deserts of Saudi Arabia and elsewhere could produce 141 billion barrels of crude, research firm IHS says. FuelFix.com reports horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, alongside other technological breakthroughs in recent years, could pump that much oil out of 170 older, largely unproductive fields around the world, from the Middle East to Latin America to Russia. In its initial assessment, IHS found 96% of the oil that could be recovered from those fields would have to be released using hydraulic fracturing. Read the full story.
The other gender gap: The share of new businesses started by women fell last year to its second lowest level in nearly two decades, a sign that the entrepreneurial gender gap widened last year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Women opened just 36.8% of new U.S. businesses in 2014, according to new data. That is down from an average of 40.7% over the last 19 years—and almost at the low point of 36.7% reached in 2007. The latest numbers likely reflect both broad macroeconomic factors, such as the construction rebound, and the obstacles facing women entrepreneurs, analysts say. In all, men started an average of roughly 337,000 U.S. businesses a month last year, up 21% from 2013, according to an annual index of startup activity that will be released later this month by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Read the full story.
The down low: A plunge in energy-related drilling and sluggish manufacturing sent U.S. industrial output down for a fifth straight month in April. Overall industrial production slid 0.3% in April after a drop of the same size in March, the Federal Reserve announced this morning. The Associated Press reports the figures suggest that weakness in manufacturing and mining is weighing heavily on the economy. Oil and gas well drilling activity plunged 14.5% last month, its fourth straight double-digit decline. Manufacturing output was unchanged after rising 0.3% in March. Utility production fell 1.3%, as Americans used less heat but haven’t yet cranked up the air conditioning. Read the full story.
