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EnergySource

Jun 23, 2020

How can Portugal’s Port of Sines play a bigger role in assuring energy security in the European Union?

By Dr. Ricardo Silvestre

The European Union (EU) currently relies on a small number of external suppliers to meet its energy needs. To minimize reliance on foreign gas imports, the EU should increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to Europe, expand gas storage capacity, and further develop energy distribution mechanisms across Member States. As a potential alternative energy hub, Sines, Portugal is in an excellent position to become an important continental European LNG entrance point as well as a key gas distribution and bunkering center. If the pieces fall into place, Sines, and Portugal writ large, may become key guarantors of European energy security.

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

EnergySource

Jun 12, 2020

US foreign policy and Euro-Caspian energy security: The time is now to build the Trans-Caspian Pipeline

By Matthew Bryza, Robert M. Cutler, and Giorgi Vashakmadze

The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) represents a historic success for Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU) in regard to their common quest for new energy supply sources and routes. Over the last decade, the EU has intensified its efforts to expand the SGC, seeking to attract gas from Turkmenistan. The time is now ripe to connect Turkmen gas with SGC infrastructure and the European market through a Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline.

Central Asia Energy & Environment

EnergySource

Jun 12, 2020

Ukraine’s gas market reform: A success story that needs to be acknowledged

By Dr. Aura Sabadus

Ukraine's experience over the past five years with natural gas market reform and regulatory alignment proves that European Union rule transfer is possible in Ukraine, provided it remains committed to positive policy change.

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

EnergySource

May 18, 2020

Coronavirus emergency measures should persuade Ukraine, Romania, and Turkey to legitimize energy reform, not reverse it

By Dr. Aura Sabadus

For years, Eastern European governments and Turkey have bought into a global trend, arguing that long-term strategies in the energy sector should revolve around market deregulation. In light of the coronavirus outbreak and the emergency measures implemented worldwide to contain it, the energy industry may now face an increase in interventionist policies such as price controls and consolidation of state-owned enterprises as governments push to mitigate the shockwaves of expected consumer impacts. Such measures would be detrimental to economies, and there are compelling arguments that suggest governments should remain committed to their initial market goals.

Coronavirus Eastern Europe

EnergySource

May 11, 2020

Increasing mutual dependence in Sino-Gulf relations is changing the strategic landscape

By Christian Le Miere

The conventional wisdom that the United States is the only viable partner for Gulf states is now being challenged by a new reality: the main importer of Gulf oil is now China. At the same time, China’s strategic goals increasingly encompass stability in the Middle East, while a more activist foreign policy under Xi Jinping ensures greater involvement in the security, as well as economic, discourse in the region.

China Energy & Environment

EnergySource

May 8, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis and US and EU emissions in the new decade: Opportunities for a clean energy recovery

By Robert F. Ichord, Jr.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a sudden decline in global electricity demand of up to 20-25 percent in some countries, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects global electricity demand for 2020 will fall by 5-10 percent, contributing to an 8 percent overall drop in energy sector CO2 emissions. This piece updates evaluates the performance of the US and EU power sectors in 2019 within the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus Energy & Environment

EnergySource

May 6, 2020

Safeguarding the Red Sea amid the coronavirus: Preventing the spill of the FSO SAFER

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

The global COVID-19 pandemic has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and caused unprecedented harm to the global economy. At the same time, the pandemic has diverted global attention away from other matters of concern, notably the Floating Storage and Offloading Vessel (FSO) SAFER, a converted oil tanker moored four miles off the coast of Ras Isa, Yemen, in the Red Sea continuing to degrade after years of neglect. If no action is taken, the SAFER will spill as much as 1.14 million barrels of Marib Light crude into the water. Much of the world’s activity may be on hold, but the ongoing corrosion on the SAFER is not taking a break to wait out the pandemic.

Coronavirus Energy & Environment

EnergySource

Apr 20, 2020

Containing Russian influence in Venezuela

By David L. Goldwyn and Andrea Clabough

The Russian government has been instrumental in preserving the Maduro regime, despite years of intense domestic and international pressure favoring a democratic transition, providing the regime invaluable diplomatic leverage, security personnel, and material, as well as an economic lifeline. The US strategy for a democratic Venezuela must recognize these realities and focus on containing Russian influence in Venezuela, as it cannot end it.

Economic Sanctions Economy & Business

EnergySource

Apr 9, 2020

Hurdles to OPEC++

By Phillip Cornell

This week in oil markets has an air of suspended animation. Will an international production deal materialize? The answer is “perhaps,” but probably not in the volumes necessary to balance the market and only after Moscow extracts concessions.

Geopolitics & Energy Security Oil and Gas

EnergySource

Mar 12, 2020

Oil market meltdown?

By John Soughan

Over the weekend of March 7–8, the breakdown of the previous oil production agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia led to the broader collapse of the arrangement between OPEC and OPEC+. What will the rift will mean for the global oil market?

Coronavirus Energy Markets & Governance
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