In The News

A Not-To-Be-Missed Opportunity

Nayan Chanda January 30, 2015
The abrupt fall in oil prices, due to new technologies and a battle over market share between Saudi Arabia and the United States, creates clear winners and losers. Exporting countries that predicated budgets on oil priced near $100 per barrel struggle to adjust even as prices near $50 per barrel offer a brief respite for nations that depend on oil imports. “Amid signs that the price may fall...

Wrong-Way Bets on Oil

Will Hickey January 13, 2015
Nations are wary about fast-dropping oil prices and just how long those prices could stay low. Some nations are lured into ongoing dependence on fossil fuels while others reduce consumer subsidies and redirect funds into infrastructure development. Will Hickey, associate professor at Linton Global College in Daejeon, urges careful management of the windfalls as the decisions will have lasting...

Oil’s Well to Stop Binging

Nayan Chanda January 9, 2015
Consumers rejoice at the fast-falling price of oil, by half since summer of 2014. Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, urges governments to use the period of respite to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, ending subsidies and instead investing in alternative energies like wind, solar and other alternative energies. The Modi administration in India has made a start, suggesting subsidies for off...

Plummeting Oil Prices Upend Global Economy

Chris Miller January 6, 2015
Abrupt changes in prices of an essential commodity like oil immediately create winners and losers. Oil prices have fallen since July due to new supplies coming on line and exporters seeking to hold on to market share. If sustained for long, the price drop will transform the global economy and geopolitics, explains Chris Miller, PhD candidate at Yale University and research associate with the...

How Crude Oil’s Global Collapse Unfolded

Russell Gold December 17, 2014
The price of oil has fell from $110 per barrel to about $60 per barrel for a combination of reasons: Increased US oil production has upended global markets; Nigeria once delivered a million barrels a day to the US; that dropped to zero this summer. Now oil-producing nations like Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran hunt for new customers and compete for Asian markets. At the same time, demand lags in...

China Offers to Help Iraq Defeat Sunni Extremists

Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Lucy Hornby December 15, 2014
China has the world’s third most powerful military force – and has offered to help Iraq combat Islamic State extremists. China’s foreign minister extended the offer to Iraq’s foreign minister during a September UN antiterrorism meeting, reports Financial Times. “China is the largest foreign investor in Iraq’s oil sector and stands to lose the billions its state-owned groups have ploughed into the...

Oil Prices Continue to Define Geopolitics

October 24, 2014
Oil prices are in decline around the globe, reflecting a slowdown in China and the eurozone combined with increased production in nations whose budgets and stability rely on steady revenues. OPEC, which controls about 40 percent of production, fails to coordinate. Low prices mean lower revenues, but also provide opportunity or greater market share. Stratfor Global Intelligence reviews the effect...