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Trisha Curtis

Energy Fellow

For media inquiries, please contact cinamon@csinstituteus.org

Trisha Curtis is the President and CEO of PetroNerds, LLC.  She founded the company and began running it out of Denver, Colorado in 2016.  She was formerly the Director of Research, Upstream and Midstream, at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. (EPRINC) in Washington, DC.  Since 2010, she has led extensive research efforts and major consulting projects and authored several reports on the North American upstream and midstream markets for government agencies, global think tanks, and corporations.  

She was also the Manager for Strategy and Analytics at Anschutz Exploration in Denver, Colorado from 2019 to 2020.  

At PetroNerds, Ms. Curtis leads research, advising and consulting services.  She is a macroeconomist with an expertise in US shale markets, geopolitics, and China.  She is globally recognized for her knowledge of US shale and has been asked to speak and present at several academic, industry, and investor forums including OPEC in Vienna, SPE in Bahrain, IEF in Saudi Arabia, Stanford University, Chatham House, Oxford University, Denver University, and Colorado School of Mines.  

She is also the host of the PetroNerds Podcast.  

Trisha provides clients with in-depth analysis of the US and world economy, geopolitics, global oil and gas markets, and the US shale industry.  She synthesizes this into relevant, actionable, and forecastable information integral to her clients and their respective businesses and needs.  

She spearheaded EPRINC’s projects with Department of Energy for the Quadrennial Energy Review, evaluating future North American crude oil production volumes and midstream transportation options through 2030.  She worked extensively with US and Canadian railroads in their efforts to begin moving Bakken crude, by rail, to the East Coast.  Trisha also authored multiple reports on US shale and completions in US shale with the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

Her work for Department of Defense has focused extensively on China, energy, and US Shale.

Ms. Curtis is a Board Member at the Denver Earth Resources Library, a Research Associate at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), a recognized independent center of Oxford University, a Distinguished Fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. (EPRINC), and a Fellow at Colorado School of Mine’s Payne Institute.  

Ms. Curtis completed her undergraduate work at Regis University in Denver, Colorado where she double majored in Economics and Politics, minored in Criminology, and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She has a Master of Science (MSc) degree from the London School of Economics in International Political Economy and wrote her MSc Dissertation on Chinese National Oil Companies.  As an undergraduate, she also worked as a staff assistant in UK Parliament for John Grogan, Selby Constituency. Raised in northwest Colorado and southwest Wyoming, she grew up around pump jacks and has worked on oil and gas sites in Colorado and Wyoming with her father.  

Expert's Work
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Energy & Our Environment
Key Trends in Colorado’s Energy Landscape

Policies in Colorado focused on reducing CO2-emissions are increasingly dictating energy production, energy use, and energy prices.

December 19, 2024 Trisha CurtisErik Gamm
Energy & Our Environment
Colorado’s Energy Competitiveness

Colorado is a major oil and gas producing state, producing nearly half a million barrels of oil per day and over 5 Billion Cubic Feet per day of natural gas.

Energy & Our Environment
Impact of SB24-159 on the Economy, Revenue, and Emissions

This analysis details the impacts across the economy, public revenue, and GHG emissions, resulting from an oil and gas permitting ban outlined in SB24-159.

March 13, 2024 Trisha CurtisChris Brown
Energy & Our Environment
Banning Oil and Gas in Colorado
Petro Nerds

PetroNerds special focuses on the proposed bill and ban on oil and gas permits in Colorado by 2030, an effective ban on all new oil and gas drilling.

March 20, 2024 Trisha CurtisChris Brown
Energy & Our Environment
Colorado bill to ban oil and gas drilling could devastate state’s economy
OK Energy Today

It’s the contention of researchers at the Common Sense Institute after they studied the impact of Senate Bill 24-159.

March 18, 2024 Trisha Curtis
Energy & Our Environment
EDITORIAL: Oil & gas ban would cripple Colorado
The Gazette

The upshot of the ban for Colorado itself is even more alarming, Common Sense found.

March 17, 2024 Trisha Curtis
Energy & Our Environment
Study: Colorado ban on oil and gas drilling will take a toll on education, destroy jobs, cut GDP
The Denver Gazette

A bill introduced in the state senate to end oil and gas drilling poses a catastrophic threat to Colorado’s economy, according to researchers from the Common Sense Institute.

March 17, 2024 Trisha Curtis