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EnergySource

Apr 18, 2019

Gas Directive: Overly burdensome regulation of the EU gas market?

By Danila Bochkarev

On 15 April, the Council of the European Union (EU) backed a controversial revision of the EU Gas Directive, which was already adopted at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels on 4 April. This adoption by the Council is the last step in the legislative initiative. However, the story began in November […]

Energy Markets & Governance European Union

EnergySource

Apr 12, 2019

The clean energy innovation trap: Climate policy is still essential

By Lee Beck

While serving as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s director of the US Office of Scientific Research and Development in 1944, Vannevar Bush wrote: “Basic research is the pacemaker for technological progress.” He championed the idea of a sequential relationship between government-funded research and development (R&D) and innovation. In his view, the government provides funding for basic research, […]

Energy Transitions Renewables & Advanced Energy

EnergySource

Apr 11, 2019

Why the massive floating bomb in the Red Sea needs urgent attention

By Dr. Ian Ralby, Dr. David Soud, and Rohini Ralby

A floating storage and offloading (FSO) terminal less than five miles off the coast of Yemen has turned into a massive bomb—capable of explosion due to its contents and lack of maintenance. The risk of explosion increases by the day, and if that were to happen, not only would it damage or sink any ships […]

Middle East Oil and Gas

EnergySource

Apr 8, 2019

Addressing the invisible supply chain

By Dr. Ian Ralby, Dr. David Soud, and Rohini Ralby

This post is the third in a series of three that focuses on 1) defining, 2) mapping, and 3) addressing the invisible supply chain. You can read the first and second posts here.  Criminals have the advantage of being agile. They are unencumbered by the constraints that impede the governments and institutions arrayed against them. A criminal […]

Oil and Gas

EnergySource

Mar 29, 2019

Black Sea natural gas games: A fork in the road for the BRUA Pipeline project

By Nolan Theisen and John Szabo

Hopes were riding high on the discovery of Romania’s Black Sea natural gas deposits in 2012, which were expected to provide a cheap and local source of the fuel for Central and South Eastern Europe (CSEE). ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom would carry out the offshore production, and the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) pipeline project, formally conceived in […]

Central Europe Eastern Europe

EnergySource

Mar 20, 2019

Defining the invisible supply chain

By Dr. Ian Ralby, Dr. David Soud, and Rohini Ralby

This post is the first in a series of three that will focus on 1) defining, 2) mapping, and 3) addressing the invisible supply chain. In 2014, the Wall Street Journal published a story detailing how the Saltpond Oil Field off the coast of Ghana was exporting as much as five times the crude oil […]

Oil and Gas

EnergySource

Mar 20, 2019

Roadblock for US nuclear power?

By Melissa S Hersh and Edward D Kee

Five nuclear power vendors are competing for a sizeable sale in Saudi Arabia, with Westinghouse facing off against state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from France, South Korea, Russia, and China. A few decades ago, the US was the world leader in nuclear power technology. However, today the US needs to sell nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the […]

Americas Energy Markets & Governance

EnergySource

Mar 15, 2019

A European view: Europe, Nord Stream 2, and diversification

By Friedbert Pflüger

Preface During his 2019 State of the Union speech, President Donald Trump claimed credit for getting European NATO members to pay an additional $100 billion in military outlays to the alliance by the end of 2020. Similarly, instead of raising the specter of further sanctions on Russia that would impact European allies, the United States […]

Central Europe Eastern Europe

EnergySource

Feb 19, 2019

Gas and conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean

By Nael M. Shama

In January, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority established the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) in an effort to coordinate energy policies and establish a regional gas market. The group will attempt to develop and organize the region’s rising gas market, allowing its members to tap their vast natural gas resources, […]

Geopolitics & Energy Security North Africa

EnergySource

Feb 13, 2019

Nuclear energy’s absence from the State of the Union: A missed opportunity

By Jennifer T. Gordon

Many commentators noted the absence of any reference to climate change, clean energy, or the Green New Deal in President Trump’s State of the Union address on February 5th. In fact, the only mention that Trump made of energy at all was to praise the US for becoming “the number one producer oil and natural […]

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment