How secure is global oil? [Recharge]
US oil abundance helps to counteract vulnerabilities in the Middle East; the Obama Administration opens up a second front in environmental policy; North America reimagines energy trade. Catch up on global energy with the Monitor's Recharge.
A pumping unit draws oil from the ground near Greensburg, Kan.
Charlie Riedel/AP/File
听written by Monitor reporters David J. Unger and Jared Gilmour.
Outages: Strong US oil output belies a shakier outlook abroad for the world鈥檚 most important energy source. The advance of IS has yet to disrupt any significant flows of crude 鈥� indeed,听. But the jihadist group displayed听听this week, a strategy听. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's conflict听with Houthi rebels in Yemen poses risks to听.
Air & water:听听over how it defines deceptively simple concepts like 鈥渨ater,鈥� 鈥渁ir,鈥� and 鈥減ollutants.鈥� The clarified water rule will likely impact agriculture and other industry more than it will oil and gas, but the move sends a broader message: the Obama administration isn鈥檛 shying away from pursuing environmental goals, despite strong opposition in Congress and elsewhere. That鈥檚 the case with the Clean Power Plan,听without which the nation will likely fall short of its targeted contribution to global climate efforts.
Amigos: North American energy trade is largely a petroleum-based affair, but with Mexico opening up its energy industry to outside investment, there鈥檚 room for expanded collaboration between the so-called 鈥淭hree Amigos.鈥� At a conference in Mexico this week,听听and explore strategies for collaborating on low-carbon power grid integration, natural gas pipelines, and climate mitigation.听听US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told Bloomberg.
In the pipeline
- Monday, June 1: WASHINGTON 鈥撎�. Panelists include International Renewable Energy Agency chief Adnan Amin, and State Department energy envoy Amos Hochstein.
- Monday, June 1 to Tuesday, June 2: BERLIN 鈥撎�. This year鈥檚 theme is 鈥淭he Consumer Powered Energy Transition.鈥�
- Friday, June 5: VIENNA 鈥撎�. Most analysts expect the cartel will听.
听
Drill deeper
听[Nature]
鈥淭he big picture is clear: on the basis of pledges made so far, the global average temperature is projected to rise by around 3鈥壜癈 above pre-industrial levels by 2100,鈥� writes Jeff Tollefson. Scientists are grading the strength of each country鈥檚 pledge, with one analysis rating China, the EU, and US as 鈥榤edium.鈥� Canada? 鈥榠nadequate.鈥�
听[The New Yorker]
Luanda hopes to become the Dubai of Africa, but it has a long way to go. Angola鈥檚 capital is a city whose oil wealth is only equaled by its inequality and its outrageous cost of living: Foreigners working in the oil industry shell out $105 for a single melon and $17 for a pint of H盲agen-Dazs ice cream, while most Angolans live on less than $2 a day. But now, without oil prices at $100 or above, the country has been forced to slash budgets and rethink an oil-driven economy.
听[The Philadelphia Inquirer]
The US oil boom has made Philadelphia refineries a major destination for crude oil traveling by rail. But with little public information on where those oil trains are headed, what they鈥檙e carrying, or what could happen in a derailment scenario, many in the city are worried about the 150 million gallons of flammable crude that roll into the city every week.
Energy sources
- : "The sharp decline in oil prices beginning in July 2014 offers a window of opportunity to roll back entrenched [fuel] subsidy schemes, since lower energy prices should make it easier to adjust domestic tariffs to something closer to market prices. Notably, countries such as India, Indonesia, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain have recently taken steps to start unwinding some subsidies. "
- : "It is necessary to limit cumulative emissions of CO2 to stabilise climate and hence limit the risk of dangerous anthropogenic interference in the climate system in the long term. But reducing [short-lived climate pollutants] may well be a more cost-effective way to limit the rate of climate change over the coming decades to ensure that ecosystems, food production and the economy can adapt, which also has a role in avoiding dangerous climate change."
- : "[T]he climate implications of increased natural gas supply are far from straightforward. While building out new infrastructure for the supply and use of natural gas can support climate goals by avoiding the 鈥渓ock-in鈥� of new coal power plants, it also poses risks, for example, of 鈥渓ocking-out鈥� other, lower-emission alternatives. Achieving one while avoiding the other will require careful policy design."
Unplug
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听written by Monitor reporters David J. Unger and Jared Gilmour.