Oil

One benefit that should flow soon from large new sources of shale gas that have been and will be unleashed into world markets - is the realization that gas prices linked to oil prices don’t make sense any more.

This paper examines the effects of internal Iraqi politics on the potential for exporting Kurdistani natural gas. It examines Baghdad’s policy with regards to both oil and gas, and predicts what effects it will have on Kurdistan’s gas prospects.

Europe is seeking ways to decrease the growing negative impact of passenger cars on climate, currently responsible for up to 12% of total EU CO₂ emissions. After biofuels in the nineties and hydrogen in 2000, the new answer to climate change appears to be electric. But contrary to many marketing messages, electric cars are not zero emissions cars. They will not necessarily contribute to actual CO₂ emission reductions before 2020 and even then, not in every country. 

The European Union’s hydrocarbon energy supply depends heavily on imports. While the European Commission has recommended diversifying and increasing domestic resources, notably with renewable resources which should grow to 20% by 2020, dependence on hydrocarbon imports will remain not only substantial, but will increase.

Armed groups, many affiliated to the Niger Delta-wide political organisation MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, proliferated throughout the oil producing states, particularly from early 2006 onwards. In January 2006, MEND declared war on the oil industry pending the resolution of long term political grievances relating to poverty and underdevelopment, the poor regulation of an environmentally polluting oil industry, and the alienation of local people from rights to land and resources in the Niger Delta.

Turn on the news or open the paper and sure enough there will be mention of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Although it has retreated from the big headlines, the disaster still looms large as people deal with the aftermath of the BP catastrophe. 

Why do we have to drill through a mile of water and then three miles of rock to get oil? Surely there are better options in the world’s geologic resource base than deep, acidic, high pressure deposits that threaten the waters and coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Guinea, Campos Basin, Barents Sea and the Caspian. Most of this is oil that got deposited even before continental drift started.

Pundits argue that the BP accident in the US Gulf is a final nail in the coffin of President Obama’s energy and environment legislation. They conclude that American energy and environment policy will be left in disarray with little hope for key decisions before the crucial Cancun climate change talks.

The third Ifri Annual Energy Conference held at the Plaza Hotel, Brussels in February 2010 posed the question: “How do we begin effectively to close the gap between climate change policies and current practices - or put another way between climate change rhetoric and market reality”.