Tom Seng
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice Texas Christian University
- Fort Worth TX
Professor Seng, whose focus is on energy finance, has more than 30 years of experience in the natural gas industry.
Media
Social
Biography
Dr. Seng has over 30 years of experience in the natural gas and natural gas liquids industry, including physical and financial commodity trading, risk management and hedging, pipeline and midstream operations, transportation and storage capacity marketing and risk control.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York, an MBA in Oil & Gas Management from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland and a doctorate in education from Maryville University in St. Louis.
He is the author of “Energy Trading & Hedging: A Nontechnical Guide” (PennWell 2019).
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
University of Tulsa, Helmerich Graduate Faculty Excellence Award
2016
University of Tulsa, Collins College of Business Excellence in Teaching Award - Nominee
2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
Education
SUNY Oneonta
B.S.
Political Science/History
1977
Robert Gordon University
MBA
International Oil & Gas Management
2013
Maryville University
Ph.D.
Higher Education/Higher Education Administration
2023
Affiliations
- Energy Society of Texas
- American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL)
- Natural Gas & Energy Association of Oklahoma (NGEAO)
Media Appearances
Why oil prices predicted by financial markets are missing the mark
NPR Marketplace radio
2026-04-30
We’ve hit the two-month mark of this historic energy supply disruption, spurred by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The reality of the physical market is already starting to hit, said Tom Seng. Just look at oil price spikes this week: “To me, it's almost as if the market woke up and said, ‘Oh, look, we got to stop being optimistic,’” Seng said. He thinks that with summer travel season coming up, prices should probably be even higher than markets are expecting.
Why US natural gas prices are insulated from the war in the Middle East
NPR Marketplace radio
2026-04-03
Why is the U.S. protected from the natural gas supply shock, but not the oil supply shock?
The war in the Middle East has disrupted roughly 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas and crude oil, two vital commodities. Both are abundantly produced here in the U.S, but oil is easy to transport, whereas natural gas needs to become liquid to move across international waters. The U.S. has a limited amount of that liquefaction infrastructure, said Tom Seng.
World leaders eye oil reserves, but so far hold off on tapping them
Associated Press online
2026-03-09
A widening war in Iran has halted oil tankers, made targets of refineries and spooked investors worried about the cascading impact of spiking energy prices. If it might seem like the ideal time to dip into the world’s emergency oil stockpiles, global leaders have so far responded with reluctance. “The key question on drawing down these reserves remains one of, ‘How long will this conflict last?’” says Tom Seng. “And, more importantly, ’How long with the Strait of Hormuz remain blocked?’”
How Qatar's halt in natural gas production will affect global supply
NPR Marketplace radio
2026-03-02
The conflict in Iran has led Qatar, one of the world’s largest producers of liquified natural gas, to halt production. As a result, natural gas prices have soared in Europe and Asia — both major importers of Qatari natural gas. LNG facilities around the globe are running at capacity. That’s including facilities in the U.S., the world’s number one LNG exporter, said Tom Seng. “We’re maxed out,” he said. “You can't just boost LNG production from its current levels if you're already running at 100% in the United States.”
Uncertainty around Iran leads to choppy oil prices
NPR Marketplace radio
2026-02-11
News about a potential U.S. military intervention in Iran has caused oil prices to rise and fall over the last couple of weeks. That’s because of just how much of the world’s oil is produced by Iran and its neighbors. The story starts with the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, said Tom Seng. “From a crude oil perspective, this is a choke point,” he said.
Video: In Depth: Energy industry shifts raise questions about Oklahoma's future
Fox 23 News tv
2026-02-10
Oklahoma has lost two major energy company headquarters in recent weeks, with Devon Energy and Expand Energy announcing moves to Houston. Both companies said they plan to maintain a workforce in Oklahoma despite the relocations. “Growth these days is more about acquisition… These are huge deals in terms of dollar valuation. As companies look to improve their earnings, this seems to be the method now.” explains Tom Seng. “This is an industry move, honestly. When I first saw this, I thought, ‘Ok, what’s the impact on Oklahoma from a job perspective?’ These are business decisions, I don’t think it represents anything in particular that’s a negative against Oklahoma.”
Earning show why big oil isn't eager to go all-in on Venezuela
NPR Marketplace radio
2026-01-31
ExxonMobil and Chevron posted their lowest annual profits since 2021 in the earnings report, adding yet another reason why neither of these companies seems particularly excited to invest big in Venezuela. “We’re in a low-price environment, the market globally is deemed to be in an oversupply situation. Why in the world would they invest in a place like Venezuela?” asks Tom Seng.
TCU launches "Landman" class inspired by hit Paramount+ TV series to prep students for energy careers
CBS News tv
2026-01-15
TCU’s Neeley School of Business is offering a course focused on the work of landmen, the professionals who negotiate land and mineral rights for energy companies. But instead of a traditional textbook, the class uses Taylor Sheridan's hit TV series "Landman," starring Billy Bob Thornton, as a starting point. The show has brought new attention to the profession, but Tom Seng said it also exaggerates the job for dramatic effect. "Initially, it was almost a wait-a-minute, timeout," Seng said. "Let's explain to the young people here at TCU what it’s obviously really like. No cartel fighting. No planes blowing up."
What is a landman? This TCU course inspired by the hit TV series will explain
KERA News online
2025-12-12
In the first episode of Taylor Sheridan’s hit TV series Landman, lead character Tommy Norris, played by Billy Bob Thornton, is held prisoner by the Mexican cartel and a massive oil tanker and airplane collide in a fiery explosion.
While Tom Seng, an assistant professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University, admitted those scenes were entertaining, he said they don’t reflect what life is actually like as a landman.
“I have yet to run into a landman who said he was battling cartels in West Texas,” he said with a chuckle.
TCU Is Now Offering A Land Management Class Inspired By Taylor Sheridan’s Hit Show, ‘Landman’
Whisky Riff online
2025-12-12
An assistant professor of energy finance at TCU by the name of Tom Seng will be teaching a class called “Land Management and Land Administration.” Seng and the university saw the opportunity to capitalize on the increased interest in oil and land management, and decided to formulate an eight-week seminar that informed students on the topic that the show focuses on, as Seng explained to KERA News:
“I think students want to truly understand, ‘Okay, I saw the series, it was really fun. But what is that really about?’”
Trump opens parts of Florida, California waters up to offshore oil drilling, breaking decades of precedent
CNN online
2025-11-20
Given Trump’s tariffs, it’s not currently boom time for oil drilling, experts told CNN. Companies instead are trying to curb their spending and hold onto their earnings, said Tom Seng, a professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University.
FOX23 Investigates: Why Tulsa gas prices are more expensive than in Oklahoma City
FOX23 Tulsa tv
2025-09-04
Tom Seng, an assistant energy professor at Texas Christian University who lives in Tulsa said crude supply and transportation costs don’t explain it. He [pointed out that Tulsa has two refineries.
“To be honest with you, there’s no simple explanation,” Seng said “It’s a market strategy by the retailers. OnCue is the largest retailer in Oklahoma City, and they choose to keep prices lower.”
2024 was a booming year for U.S. energy exports. Will this year be a repeat?
Marketplace online
2025-08-18
Another thing that could affect energy exports is what kinds of energy the U.S. consumes, said Tom Seng, a professor at Texas Christian University. President Donald Trump’s administration is blocking the permitting for new wind and solar projects.
Why are Tulsa drivers paying more at the pump than Oklahoma City?
Newsbreak online
2025-07-29
To understand the price discrepancy, News On 6 reached out to Tom Seng, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Energy at Texas Christian University, who had a long career in the Oil & Gas sector.
Seng says the price gap isn’t likely due to differences in supply, demand, or transportation costs between the cities.
“I can't explain why there's a difference other than the retail outlets in the other areas and the prices that they choose,” Seng said.
Canada's first ship carrying liquified natural gas sails to Asia
Marketplace online
2025-07-08
Where they’ll be competing with another, major, LNG producer: the United States.
“We’re the No. 1 in the world right now,” said Tom Seng, a professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University.
Oklahoma and nationwide gas prices drop despite Middle East turmoil and Iran-Israel ceasefire
Tulsa/KOTV 6 tv
2025-06-25
Tom Seng, Assistant Professor of Energy Finance at Texas Christian University, said traders were bracing for impact.
“The assumption immediately is, ‘OK, the flow will be shut in,’” Seng said. “They export about 1.7 million barrels of oil a day. So traders had to be really tense over the weekend because when the market shuts down on Friday, it doesn’t open again until Sunday evening.”
TCU energy prof explains why oil prices have dropped amid tensions
Fort Worth Report online
2025-06-23
“The market took that as, ‘OK, the retaliatory measures by Iran are going to target military installations of the United States, not oil infrastructure,” said Tom Seng, assistant professor of professional practice in energy at Texas Christian University’s Ralph Lowe Energy Institute.
What The Bombing Of Iran Might Mean For The Economy Today
Forbes online
2025-06-23
Results will depend on previous actions taken. “Right now, traders are stressed out, depending on the position they took Friday,” says Tom Seng, an assistant professor at Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business. If they went ‘short’, they could be screwed. If they went ‘long,’ they are about to make a lot of money. The question for them is, how long do they hold out before selling the length they have?" Remember that traders may include people investing in a fund that you hold.
US Shale Producers Unlikely to Heed Trump’s Call to Drill as Rally Fades
MSN online
2025-06-23
“You can’t do ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ overnight,” said Tom Seng, an assistant professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. “We’ll have to see higher prices for several months before companies start adding rigs again.”
Power Hour | Rethinking Energy Realities: Oil, LNG, and the New AI Powered Demand Surge
Collide.io online
2025-06-18
For years, forecasts and policy debates have leaned into the narrative of fossil decline and energy transition, often ignoring market behavior, geopolitical pressure, and raw physics.
In this Power Hour, @Tom Seng, energy finance professor at TCU and industry veteran, breaks down why these assumptions miss the mark.
Oil billionaires helped Trump win. Where are they now as economy crumbles? | Opinion
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
2025-04-25
Since President Donald Trump announced broad tariffs this month, the price of oil in the U.S. has plummeted to levels not seen since September 2022. With production at just over 13 million barrels per day, this represents a reduction in gross revenue of $195 million per day for the oil and gas industry — not counting the precipitous drop in natural gas prices, too.
FOX 7 Austin: Tom Seng Analyzes Pause of Natural Gas Export
TCU Neely School of Business News online
2024-04-04
In a recent interview on FOX 7 Austin, Tom Seng, assistant professor of professional practice in energy finance and a leader in TCU Neeley’s Ralph Lowe Energy Institute, shed light on the significance of liquified natural gas (LNG), emphasizing its role as a highly concentrated form of natural gas, liquefied for ease of transportation.
“The whole idea behind that is it's an ease of transportation. So, for instance, an ocean-going LNG tanker would hold the equivalent of 3,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas, but in liquid form,” Seng said. “Liquefied natural gas contains about 600 times the energy of just regular natural gas in vapor form.”
TX gets federal money to strengthen the grid
FOX 7 Austin tv
2023-07-10
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the state will receive $60 million in federal funds to help strengthen the infrastructure on the Texas power grid. Tom Seng, assistant professor of professional practice in energy and leader of the MBA program at TCU Ralph Lowe Energy Institute, joins us with more.
Fueling Growth: Energy Market Trends and Opportunities in 2023
EisnerAmper online
2023-05-25
In this Solutions InSight session from May of 2023, we’re joined by Tom Seng, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Energy at TCU in Fort Worth, to discuss the trends we’ve seen in energy in the first half of 2023 and what to expect in the second half of the year. From M&A activity, effects of inflation, impacts from the Inflation Reduction Act, and the state of the energy transition, our speakers cover the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the industry and how energy organizations can take action to better position themselves for success.
What's the best way to lower gas prices, combat inflation? Experts weigh in
News 3 Las Vegas tv
2022-04-03
“These million barrels a day is only about 6% of what we consume as a country and it represents only about 1% of global demand,” said professor Tom Seng.
What does a Russian oil ban mean for Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry?
FOX 23 News tv
2022-03-08
University of Tulsa Energy Management Professor Tom Seng said in Oklahoma the amount of oil reserves being stored in Cushing could reach historic lows.
"It's already close to historic lows, and it could set a record soon as to how low the stock there gets," Seng said.
Local Oil Expert Addresses War Impact On Oil, Gas Prices
KOTV - News On 6 tv
2022-02-28
AAA said it expects the national gas price to top $4 per gallon by St. Patrick’s Day on Monday. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine goes on, many people wonder how high gas prices are going to go. “It’s more about the potential of supply interruptions. Russia is like the number three oil producer in the world and they export in excess of 6 million barrels a day,” said Tom Seng.
Residents describe how the rising gas prices are impacting their day-to-day lives
Newsbreak online
2021-10-14
The Director of the School of Energy at the University of Tulsa , Tom Seng, says this is a supply and demand problem.
Seng explained, “The demand has been extremely high for a while now, and the production of energy both in the United States and globally has not kept up.”
A Followup with Tom Seng About the April 2020 Oil Crash
74&WEST online
2020-04-03
In late April of 2020, oil crashed in an unprecedented way, even closing in negative territory at the end of one day. To help make sense of this, 74&WEST’s Derek Burnett got back on the phone with Mr. Seng. Check out this fascinating conversation and hear why Tom thinks it happened and what’s ahead for this particular commodity.
Local expert weighs in on gas price hike
KJRH - 2 News Oklahoma tv
2019-09-17
Tom Seng is the director of the School of Energy and assistant professor at Tulsa University.
Seng says watching this latest conflict over oil in Saudi Arabia has been surprising with gas prices climbing around 20 cents a gallon.
“I can't speak for the retailers, I can't, but I have to say, given the magnitude of the incident that happened over the weekend, I would say 10 years ago we would have seen $3 gasoline like that,” said Seng.
74&W Exclusives: Tom Seng
74&WEST online
Tom Seng is the Director of the School of Energy at The University of Tulsa and author of the book Energy Trading & Hedging: A Nontechnical Guide (PennWell, 2019). In this discussion about oil trading, Tom gives some very eye-opening perspectives and facts, including just how much oil is actually transferred between buyers and sellers, and what information moves the market and what doesn’t. He also discusses the difference between energy independence and energy self-sufficiency, the evolution of oil extraction methods and their impacts, the reality of where the US is importing its oil from, and—as he sees it—the likely future of the US oil industry.
Emergency oil stockpiles are dwindling by roughly 4 million barrels a day
NPR Marketplace radio
2026-05-13
Oil inventories are falling at a record pace because of ongoing war in the Middle East, according to the International Energy Agency, which coordinates international fuel reserve releases. “Every single day that this conflict continues with the Strait closed, the situation's just getting worse and worse and worse,” said Tom Seng. So, regardless of when this mess ends, Seng said pain at the pump is going to last at least for several more months.
Event Appearances
AI's Impact on Natural Gas Demand
Texas-NARO Austin, Texas
2026-07-16
Powering AI
MENSA Annual Meeting Dallas, Texas
2026-07-01
Oil & Gas Marketing
AAPL Annual Meeting Salt Lake City, Utah
2026-06-25
The Technologies of Transition
AAPL Annual Meeting Boston, MA
2025-06-17
Articles
Geopolitical risks outweigh bearish sentiment for oil prices
Oil & Gas Journal2025-12-05
Crude prices moved higher this week as geopolitical risk entered again with Russia/Ukraine and US/Venezuela both inferring potential losses of supply.
Rollercoaster week for oil prices ends with a surprise
Oil & Gas Journal2025-11-21
Oil prices started the week off higher but faltered as a result of continuing concerns over a glut in the near-term and the first refined product storage gains in several weeks but despite a draw in crude inventories.
Oversupply dominates market sentiment for oil prices
Oil & Gas Journal2025-11-14
Mixed market signals once again created the pricing volatility as the end of the US government shutdown was a positive development while bearish outlooks and an unexpectedly large inventory gain added pressure to prices.
Oil prices consolidate on mixed signals
Oil & Gas Journal2025-11-07
Crude prices entered a $2.00/bbl range-bound consolidation period last week which continued into this week. Such price boundaries signify indecision on the part of traders due to varying market signals.
New sanctions on Russia rally crude prices
Oil & Gas Journal2025-10-24
Crude prices were already poised for a technically-driven rebound, but across-the-board inventory draws, and new sanctions placed on Russian energy entities led to a $5.00+ rally this week. The US grade started the week as low as $56.35/bbl but pushed as high as $62.60/bbl by Friday.
Without geopolitical risk, oil prices fall on supply glut
Oil & Gas Journal2025-10-17
Absent any new geopolitical risk premium, crude markets this week focused on supply-side concerns resulting in a steady stair-step lower. This was a continuation of the downtrend that started in the prior week on the Trump threat of 100% tariff increases on Chinese imports.
Oil markets lessen geopolitical risk while oversupply concerns remain
Oil & Gas Journal2025-10-10
Crude prices fell to the lowest levels since the first week in May as geopolitical risk factors lessened and as another large gain in oil inventories was reported. The critical $60/bbl support mark for WTI was breached and a key technical indicator is now signaling that prices have moved too far below their recent average.
Oversupply concerns tank oil prices
Oil & Gas Journal2025-10-03
Oversupply concerns dominated crude markets this week as prices fell more than -7% week-on-week, reversing what had been an over-buying situation into one of over-selling.
An Exploration of Using Solar Photovoltaic Cells as a Sustainable Solution in Higher Education
Higher Education Politics & Economics2023-09-01
The purpose of this convergent parallel mixed-methods instrumental case study was to examine the feasibility of Solar Photovoltaics (PV) as an economic and environmental sustainability tool for higher education while, at the same time, gauging essential university stakeholder knowledge, opinions and beliefs regarding sustainable development, sustainable universities and support for sustainable initiatives on campus.
Hedging Strategies: Those who don't hedge are the real risk-takers
NAPE Magazine2022-11-01
Hedging energy commodity price risk is not as complicated as one might think. But, without hedging, buyers and sellers of energy commodities are taking-on 100% of the market risk.
Turbulent Commodity Prices and the Turmoil for Young Professionals
The Way Ahead2015-06-01
From June 2014 to January 2015, global crude oil prices dropped by almost 60%, from about USD 108/bbl to USD 46/bbl. There were many factors that drove these prices downward. Being an integral part of the industry, it is important that young professionals understand the governing principles and be able to connect them with facts. The following are some of the prominent factors responsible for the drastic change in oil prices.
