The “thirst for oil” is often put forward as a near self-evident explanation behind military interventions in Libya, for instance, or Sudan. Oil, or the lack of oil, is also said to be behind the absence…
After seven years of planning, the South Stream pipeline that would carry gas from Russia to Europe via Bulgaria has been cancelled. After a long-running battle with the EU over the need for the pipeline…
Listen up historians!
President Obama image from www.shutterstock.com
Aided and abetted by a disciplined Republican party, a common meme in the American media is the foreign policy failure of the Obama administration. The purported evidence is there for all to see. It includes…
Gas guzzled: OPEC’s 1973 oil embargo threw America into crisis and underlined the political power of energy.
David Falconer/Wikimedia Commons
The Australian Financial Review recently trumpeted America’s “re-emergence as a world oil power”. It is an accomplishment four decades in the making and its success is still under debate. Energy security…
The G20’s impressive declaratory record on energy cooperation hides serious practical shortcomings.
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With the Brisbane G20 Leaders Summit only a matter of weeks away, Australia is increasingly succumbing to G20 fever. Rarely does a self-declared middle power such as Australia get to play host to such…
The Ukraine crisis caused relations between Russia and the EU to fall to their lowest point since the Cold War. But despite the bickering and outright conflicts, both still need each other: Europe relies…
The Tangshanpeng Wind Farm in China.
Flickr/Land Rover Our Planet
With the failure of international agreements to fight climate change, the way is open to viewing the role of renewables as more than agents for reducing carbon emissions. Indeed is it possible for countries…
The difference between the seething realm of Islamic State (IS) and the relatively safe and democratic region of Iraqi Kurdistan is a stark one. Assuming that the combined humanitarian and military reinforcements…
The International Energy Agency was set up to avoid a repeat of the 1973 oil crisis - but four decades later the rules need updating.
David Falconer/US Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
Next week, Brisbane hosts the final meeting of the G20 Energy Sustainability Working Group before the main G20 summit in November. Government officials and energy experts from 20 of the most powerful countries…
Is the sun setting on West African oil? A platform in Limbe, Cameroon.
VirginieVV
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the US made a point of diversifying its sources of oil to reduce dependence on the Middle East. It was a strategic move which promised a huge boost to West African…
Big may be beautiful but it’s also inflexible and expensive.
Andrew Parsons/PA
Take a hard look at the painful process of de-carbonising the UK’s electricity supply, and it’s clear that the options on the table are not great. From the outset, changes to the system generate further…
Installations of the main natural gas pipeline in the Boyarka village near Kiev.
Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
Michael Bradshaw, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
As with the previous Russia-Ukraine gas disputes in 2006 and 2009, how we describe the current stand-off between the two countries is a matter of semantics. Those earlier disputes found solutions based…
While there may be gold beneath the surface, it’s hard to reach.
Wu Hong/EPA
Britain’s energy-hungry population is highly dependent on oil and gas, which powers around two thirds of the UK’s energy needs. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) projects that by 2030…
The escalating situation in Ukraine has focused the minds of Europe’s leaders on their countries’ energy needs and how to meet them. Energy security has quickly become a strategic priority for the EU…
The German energy giant RWE has begun to “reverse flow” supplies of gas from Europe back to Ukraine via Poland, a process first arranged in 2012, with an agreement to deliver up to 10 billion cubic metres…
Balancing energy security and emissions reduction: even more complicated than this.
Bruno Fahy/EPA
Jessica Jewell, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
With tensions running high in Ukraine and the release of the third part of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, energy security and climate change are on governments’ agendas. Specifically, how to reduce…
The future will be dimly lit without tackling the growing energy gap.
Ben Curtis/PA
The Conservative Party apparently plans to introduce a moratorium on future onshore wind farms from 2020, hanging their hat on the growth of offshore wind instead, and following Germany’s lead by expanding…
Eastern Europe relies on the network of gas pipelines that runs from Russia through Ukraine and Belarus.
EPA/Eustream/AAP
The ongoing standoff between Russia and Ukraine has exacerbated Europe’s vulnerability caused by its reliance on Russian gas. The situation has locked the two nations into a dispute over paying for gas…