Coal for Christmas and Oil Price Drop

December 18, 2025

Recorded December 16th, 2025

Episode 147 of the PetroNerds podcast is a PetroNerdy Christmas special. Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast is joined by Jason Isaac, Founder of the American Energy Institute.

Trisha and Jason cover the world, from US electricity and coal to Venezuela to Russia and Ukraine. Trisha talks about the economy and the sell off in oil prices and natural gas prices being overdone and the geopolitical realities still in the market, including the US seizing Venezuelan crude tankers and the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.

Jason and Trisha talk about the economy, unemployment rising to 4.6 percent, the labor market, the Paris Climate Accords, and Ford’s announcement to write down EVs and focus on hybrid and more affordable pickups. Trisha talks about China and the coal fired power generation in China and how exactly this stacks up to US power generation. Trisha and Jason spend time talking about rising electricity prices, Californians being behind on their electric bills, aggressive green policies in states which has led to rising electricity prices, and the need for education and policy changes in power generation. Trisha wants coal for Christmas. She wants coal in her stocking and more coal fired power generation in the grid, not less. She talks about natural gas production, natural gas prices, and rising LNG exports.

Trisha and Jason talk about the energy policies of the Trump Administration and the work Chris Wright is doing, his “I love coal” comments at the newly renamed National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Trisha Curtis is the American Energy Institute’s economist.

Her article in Daily Signal on “Rising Electricity Prices Started Well Before AI” can be found here: https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/11/18/rising-electricity-prices-started-well-before-ai/.

And Trisha’s latest interview on Steve Gruber’s Real America’s Voice can be found here: https://rumble.com/v731tow-trisha-curtis-pipelines-lng-and-americas-power-bills.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6il0x4zwJ4.