Energy and electricity policy, planning and regulation in South Africa has been slow and bureaucratic, lacking visionary leadership, and marred by uncertainty. Policy positions and actions taken have tended to be reactive, and driven more by crisis management than by forward-looking leadership...

Geopolitics of fossil fuels

The Geopolitics of fossil fuels research axis whithin Ifri's Center for Energy and Climate deals with global geopolitical trends of the oil, gas and coal sectors, with a focus on short and longer term trends in demand and supply.
Director of Ifri’s Center for Energy & Climate
...Senior Advisor, Center for Energy & Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Africa Studies Center / Center for Energy and Climate
...Associate Research Fellow, Center for Energy & Climate
...China’s economy has rebounded since April 2020 and China is one of the few countries in the world that is expected to avoid a recession in 2020. With low imported gas prices, progress with the gas market liberalization and success in pushing up shale gas production, the window of a golden age...
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Turkey’s biggest gas discovery ever on August 21, 2020. Initial findings show that the estimated reserve capacity is 320 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas.
Japan has been steadfastly promoting the development of its hydrogen economy at all levels: political, diplomatic, economic and industrial. It is yet to be seen if this excitement can be turned into a credible, cost-effective and large scale deployment.
The European Union (EU) is committed to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Similarly, Norway aims to create a zero-emission society by that same year.
The vast gas discoveries in Mozambique, some 160 trillion cubic feet (4,530 billion cubic meters), will make this very poor country (6th lowest gross national income (GNI) per capita – the lowest in Africa) one of the world’s future major producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) within two...
South Korea is a hydrogen (H2) frontrunner. The world’s first commercial fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) was launched by the South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai (Tucson i×35) in 2013.
...East Africa has the potential to experience a gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export boom in the coming years due to several projects that have been released.
China’s 2018 energy consumption data capture the ambiguity of Beijing’s attitude toward climate change. Energy demand rose by 3.5% to 3,155 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), with an increase of coal consumption (though its share in the overall energy mix is decreasing) and an expected...
China’s gas industry has been moving into a new era. China’s natural gas demand has skyrocketed amid a state campaign that encourages coal-to-gas switching. In just two years, China added 75 billion cubic meters (bcm) to global gas demand, the equivalent of the UK gas market, the second...
Presentation of the World Energy Outlook 2019
The annual World Energy Outlook is the International Energy Agency’s flagship publication, used as a reference by both governments and the energy industry. This year’s edition updates the outlooks for all fuels, technologies and regions, based on the latest market data, policy initiatives and...
Ukraine energy sector reforms and perspectives post 2020
Ukraine’s post-Soviet transformation has entered a new stage with the election of President Zelensky and his ability to gain a parliamentary majority.
Breakfast-debate with Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources of Egypt
Egypt has been undertaking bold and comprehensive reforms of its energy sector: liberalization and progressive removal of fossil fuel subsidies, alongside a deployment of renewable energy sources. At the same time, super large gas discoveries and rapid and efficient investments have...
Shifting Paradigms for Gas in the European Energy Transition Ifri Energy Breakfast Roundtables
2019 sets the stage for a reassessment of the role of natural gas in the European energy transition. The proposed coal phase out in Germany may foster its role in power generation. France has pledged to give biomethane a try while expecting a cost cut, and grid injection projects are booming...
The Competition between Russian Gas and US LNG Séminaire & Table ronde
The United States (US) are currently ramping up exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and new export projects are being developed. President Trump’s energy dominance and trade deficit reduction policy relies strongly on promoting US LNG exports. At the same time, Gazprom has been...
Energy trends in the Mediterranean region Seminars and Round-table Conferences
Mediterranean countries have to embrace the challenge of balancing the energy needs of their growing populations and economies, with energy security considerations and environmental sustainability commitments, in line with the recent Paris Agreement on climate.
Ukraine's energy sector reforms and its future gas transit role: status and perspectives
Ukraine’s energy sector reforms are progressing yet the Naftogaz restructuring, the future role for gas transit and relations with Gazprom are key challenges.
Russia-China relations: What next & else after ESPO, Yamal LNG and Power of Siberia?
Expanding Russia-China energy relations represent one of the most important global energy market developments in the past ten years, and Chinese investments in Russian energy projects and companies have been growing. The strategic dimension of Russia-China relations has gained additional...
The Way Forward after the Gazprom-Naftogaz Stockholm Arbitration Awards: the View from Naftogaz
The Gazprom-Naftogaz arbitration procedure totalling around USD 125 billion in mutual claims at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has finally come to an end following two awards from December 2017 and February 2018. Naftogaz has won a net USD 2.56 billion, the take...
Geopolitics of Gas in the South of Europe Séminaire & Table ronde
The European Union has strongly committed to reduce greenhouse gases emissions for the next decades. In this perspective, renewable energy sources will constitute a great support, but natural gas is also expected to play a key role as a transition fuel to decarbonize the...
With the recent adoption of its defence budget for 2021, the US has further tightened the screw on Nord Stream 2, threatening sanctions on EU companies involved in the Russian-backed pipeline and putting the future of the project further into uncertainty.
Asia’s biggest economy wants to promote fuel cells for trucks. Renewable energy investments should make hydrogen less costly. Tesla Inc.Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has spent years mocking the idea of using hydrogen fuel cells rather than electric batteries to power next-generation green...
The global economy is shaken by the consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak in major global economies which increasingly impacts demand, supply chains and trade.
The prospects for biogas in Europe look bright, with conservative estimates pointing to a tenfold increase in production by 2030. However, the industry will need to stay rooted in the local economy and come clean on environmental credentials if it wants to avoid a green backlash, analysts say....
Energy has been at the heart of Ukraine's troubles with Russia over the past two decades, typically as a means for Moscow to pressure its former province. The pressure points have changed over the years – moving from a focus on direct supplies to transit through Ukraine – but the battle...
Energy has been at the heart of Ukraine's troubles with Russia over the past two decades, typically as a means for Moscow to pressure its former province. The pressure points have changed over the years – moving from a focus on direct supplies to transit through Ukraine – but the battle...
Over and again, legislators worldwide are confronting the same question: which technologies do we subsidise and support, when, by how much, and for how long. Get it right and those costs will reduce and should disappear once scale is reached. Solar and wind are on their way to proving...
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, director of Ifri’s Centre for Energy, discusses various issues related to the energy market, from the strategic move of Russia towards Saudi...
Total SA boss Patrick Pouyanne proved once again that he’ll go where other business leaders fear to tread. The storm in Saudi Arabia caused by the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was too much for the chief executive officers of Siemens AG and BlackRock Inc., who pulled out of...
President Trump is using tariffs and quotas as weapons in his trade dispute with China. Sylvie Cornot-Gandolphe and Jean-François Boittin of think tank the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) argue that his actions threaten US energy dominance worldwide.