Energy Policy
Joint Ventures in the Russian Offshore – Positive News but only for the Long Term
Published: 18th May 2012| By: James Henderson
The increasing maturity of Russia’s onshore fields, especially those in West Siberia, and the potential for the country’s production to go into sharp decline over the next decade has prompted the Russian government to promote offshore development as a potential solution. President Putin has encouraged his state oil company to seek international partnership to bring [...]
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Lessons from the February 2012 European gas “crisis”
Published: 16th April 2012| By: James Henderson, Patrick Heather
In February 2012, during a period of extremely cold weather across Russia and large parts of Europe, Gazprom failed to supply all the gas that was requested from it by its non-CIS customers in countries ranging from Poland in the north to Italy and Greece in the south of Europe. This situation led to concerns [...]
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Oil Markets in 2012: Calm or Turbulent Waters?
Published: 11th April 2012| By: Bassam Fattouh
To most analysts, the combination of geopolitical and economic factors constitutes a ‘perfect storm’ that will keep an upward pressure on oil the price for the rest of 2012. The purpose of this short article is to broaden the debate and consider some potential weaknesses in the dominant story. The article will highlight three main [...]
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Comments on October 2011 Guidance Issued by Treasury on Valuation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Published: 30th March 2012| By: John Rhys
The EU emissions trading system is failing to produce a carbon price that is efficacious in promoting low-carbon investment or a low-carbon economy. Carbon price projections from this scheme are nevertheless incorporated in the formal guidance issued by the UK Treasury to guide government departments in appraising policy initiatives and projects. The Treasury’s guidance deals [...]
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Is a Russian Domestic Gas Bubble Emerging?
Published: 26th March 2012| By: James Henderson
Recent forecasts for gas supply in Russia produced by Novatek and Gazprom highlight the large amount of gas available to meet demand in the next 10 years and also point to contrasting views about which companies’ production may be preferred in a potentially oversupplied market place. In light of this potential oversupply situation, it is [...]
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On Oil Embargos and the Myth of the Iranian Oil Weapon
Published: 10th February 2012| By: Laura El-Katiri, Bassam Fattouh
The exchange of threats between Iran and the West vis-à-vis Iranian oil exports to European and other consumer countries has received wide attention among policy makers and analysts; IMF officials predict that crude oil prices could increase by as much as 30 percent in case of a halt of Iran’s exports to OECD countries, and [...]
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Peering into the future fog of CO2 – how road maps can help
Published: 20th December 2011| By: David Buchan
The term ‘road map’ is proliferating in energy and climate policy to denote any policy or aspiration projected into the future. Connie Hedegaard, Europe’s environment commissioner, hailed the Durban conference agreement as a ‘road map’ to an eventual global climate deal. This contrasts with the far more detailed road maps that she and her European [...]
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BP, Russian billionaires, and the Kremlin: a Power Triangle that never was
Published: 23rd November 2011| By: Shamil Midkhatovich Yenikeyeff
In this Comment, Dr Shamil Yenikeyeff analyses the reasons for the collapse of BP’s Arctic partnership with the Russian state company Rosneft. He argues that the BP–Rosneft deal was inauspicious even before it was signed due to the history of the Kremlin’s reluctance to back BP plc in its often uneasy relations with the AAR [...]
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Return of the P-word: the Government’s Electricity White Paper
Published: 14th July 2011| By: Malcolm Keay
The Government has published its White Paper on Electricity Market Reform, which reintroduces the concept of central planning for the UK energy system. Malcolm Keay examines the proposals and their implications for electricity markets in this country; this may not be the last word in market reform ….
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Applying belt and braces to EU energy policy
Published: 11th July 2011| By: David Buchan
New proposed rules to save energy are encroaching on the Emissions Trading Scheme. David Buchan examines the growing tension inherent in Europe’s belt and braces approach of trying to combine increasing regulation of energy efficiency and renewables with the market mechanism of the ETS. The simple solution would be to reduce the supply of ETS [...]
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