In The News

How Wall Street Is Killing Big Oil

Deepak Gopinath October 16, 2014
Companies rely on stock markets to raise money by selling small shares of ownership to investors. But investors may be killing rather than boosting major private energy companies. “Once reliable market beaters, Big Oil shares are lagging,” writes economist Deepak Gopinath. “Under pressure from investors, the world’s largest oil companies are now forced to cut capital expenditure and sell assets...

Trans-Afghan Pipeline Initiative: No Pipe Dream

Marc Grossman August 28, 2014
Despite a stream of bad news, development plans are underway even among nations with adversarial relations. Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and India signed an agreement in early July to move forward with a 1,700-kilometer natural gas pipeline. “This $7.5 billion project known as TAPI, or the Trans-Afghan Pipeline Initiative, has the potential to catalyze investment and trading opportunities...

Turkey's Kurdish Buffer

Soner Cagaptay July 17, 2014
The rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or IS or ISIS, in conjunction with the civil wars in Syria and Iraq, has put more pressure on both Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurds to work together. The Kurdish people are spread throughout Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. Before 2003, Kurds would have resisted working the Turkish government, which they regarded as oppressive. Kurdish...

South China Sea Dispute Reaches United Nations

Lauren Butowsky June 30, 2014
Both China and Vietnam have filed appeals with the United Nations over territorial claims to the Paracel Islands after China placed huge drilling rig in the area. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives countries exclusive economic use 200 miles offshore and the Chinese rig is 120 nautical miles away from Vietnam. The Chinese government claims control over the islets after a military...

China Says It Will Help Iraq

Rita Brown June 18, 2014
Iraq is OPEC’s second largest producer, and political ineptitude, sectarian violence and impending civil war threaten future oil production and global oil prices. Disruptions in Libyan production have already added to supply problems, and many had hoped Iraqi producers to step up pace. The United States led a coalition to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose dictator Saddam Hussein, and withdrew by the...

China’s Global Search for Energy

Clifford Krauss and Keith Bradsher May 23, 2014
A 30-year natural gas deal with Russia and towing a massive oil rig in disputed waters in the South China Sea are just two examples of China’s intense pursuit of energy. “Whether by diplomacy, investment or in extreme cases, force, China is going to great lengths to satisfy its growing hunger for energy to fuel its expanding car fleet and electrify its swelling cities,” report Clifford Krauss and...

Shale Industry Faces Global Reality Check

Richard Anderson April 8, 2014
New technologies in shale oil and gas recovery have reduced energy costs in the United States, and governments around the globe consider fracking for energy security. Richard Anderson of BBC News questions if the US trends can be replicated in Europe and elsewhere. Companies tried drilling in Poland with little luck because of geology challenges. Also in Poland, “A punitive tax regime and an...