Welcome to another episode of ‘What’s up with gas?’, a podcast series by Petroleum Economist covering key developments happening in the natural gas space.



The global energy crisis is deepening, with no tangible progress in US-Iran peace talks that could end the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. We examine how key import markets in Europe and Asia are faring, and whether the EU can still deliver on its pledge to phase out Russian gas as competition for alternative supplies intensifies.

In this episode, Charles McConnell, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy, discusses the evolution of carbon capture, utilization,and storage (CCUS), its market dynamics in the U.S. and Europe, and the future of energy transition investments. Insights include the importance of monetizing CO2, industry decarbonization strategies, and technological innovations in monitoring and reporting.

In this podcast, Petroleum Economist is joined by Matthew McManus to discuss how energy sanctions have become one of Washington’s most powerful diplomatic tools. Matthew is a visiting fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics and a former senior US State Department official with more than three decades of experience working on international energy and economic policy.

More than three decades after the UNFCCC was signed, the energy transition’s global contribution to slowing the overall increase in CO2 emissions has been inconsequential. US energy expert and former US government adviser Stephen D. Eule tells Petroleum Economist’s Saniya Garyali that despite a plethora of new laws, rhetoric and money spent, decarbonisation goals are still as far away as ever.

In 2026, what will define success in the oil and gas industry? In this podcast, industry experts Jorge Herrera and Aneel Bhandari examine the need to master cost control, risk visibility and operational discipline in a year that will squeeze margins and push asset productivity to the foreground. On the technology side, AI and digital twins are moving beyond back-office support to drive real-time decisions, predict failures and improve processes. They also look at how methane abatement and carbon capture are being integrated into day-to-day operations, bringing them closer to the oil and gas business model.

Denise Hamilton joins Rachel McGhie, conference director, WGLC to follow up from her electric keynote at WGLC 2025 in October. In this podcast they discuss why connection, communication and community are the skills leaders need most right now.

Next year could be pivotal for the oil & gas industry, as long-standing challenges in maintenance and asset management come back into focus. Many operators still face fragmented systems, limited visibility across engineering, safety and maintenance and difficulty linking day-to-day activities with business goals. In this episode, Gemma Fornes and Dennis Filthaus from Octave (formerly Hexagon) explain how building a physical digital twin provides the reliable data backbone needed for risk-based maintenance, regulatory compliance, and ESG reporting—and how it connects with performance, integrity and maintenance twins to give asset teams consistent, trusted information across the enterprise.