News

Energy Security Implications of an Iran in Transition

Monday, 06 October 2008 19:00 Simon Henderson

If the radical Islamic regime in Tehran acquires a nuclear weapons arsenal, it entirely changes the balance of power across the region. But Europe and Asia are hungry for Iranian oil and gas. What are the energy implications of an empowered, and likely assertive, Iran and what are the scenarios that policy makers need to consider?

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Energy as an Opportunity for Tackling the Greek Economic Crisis

Wednesday, 21 November 2012 00:00 Vassiliki Souladaki

Bureaucracy, corruption, and huge inefficiencies stand as barriers to Greek economic reform. The same could be said for its energy sector. The Public Power Corporation, the largest provider of electric power in Greece, would benefit from state divestiture but privatization efforts are held back by the PPC’s employees’ trade union which threatens a national electricity blackout when talks of privatization arise, according to JES Contributor Vassiliki Souladaki. Can a re-think of the state’s role in Greece’s energy sector trail-blaze reform in other sectors of the Greek economy and if so what might this mean for the economic recovery of the country?

The Resource Curse- Resource Nationalism Nexus: Implications for Foreign Markets

Wednesday, 21 November 2012 00:00 Ed Stoddard

Resource nationalism has long been associated with often abhorrent behavior of oil producing states resulting in limitations on international oil companies to explore and produce oil in upstream states and markets, nationalization of foreign energy companies, and the crowding out of inward foreign investment. Little attention has been paid to the underlying causes of this nationalism, among them the overwhelming prevalence and prominence of hydrocarbons in some economies-often referred to as the resource curse-which skews national economic performance in favor of resource industries. Ed Stoddard argues and explores the links between these two phenomena and how the resource curse can contribute to energy security risks through both the deliberate and unintentional producer state actions it elicits.

Japan Challenging China's Rare Earth Hegemony

Wednesday, 21 November 2012 00:00 Ka-ho YU

Chinese export restrictions on rare earth metals (REM) directly threaten Japanese industry which is the world’s largest consumer of REM. What these restrictions look like from a Japanese perspective and how Japanese industry is attempting to cope, through intensified trade relations with new REM producing countries Kazakhstan and Vietnam, is explored in detail by Contributor Ka-ho YU.

Energy Self-Sufficiency: Reality or Fantasy?

Wednesday, 21 November 2012 00:00 Gal Luft

Western publics seem to believe that energy self-sufficiency is an ideal response to those who attempt to wield the ‘energy weapon’. As Gal Luft argues, however, most states will not be able to achieve full energy self-sufficiency, let alone avoid future spikes in prices, in an economically globalized world.

Exploring the Asian Premium in Crude Oil Markets

Wednesday, 21 November 2012 00:00 Adi Imsirovic and Dr. Tilak Doshi

How oil is priced and who pays what price has long been a matter of concern to consumers around the world. Historically, Asian oil importers have believed that they pay an 'Asian price premium' for oil over the price consumers in Europe and North America pay for the same commodity. This article explores whether an Asian premium is in fact a reality or whether price differentials between what consumers of Middle Eastern oil pay in Asia as compared to other regions are attributable to other factors. This outstanding article lifts the lid on how oil is priced on international markets and provides a studied analysis for explaining regional oil price differentials using time series analysis.

Energy-Development-Security Nexus in Afghanistan

Tuesday, 20 November 2012 00:00 Katerina Oskarsson

With ISAF’s 2014 change in mission from a combat to a training role looming and the retraction of large amounts of foreign development assistance likely, Afghanistan’s future stability and security is in question. While any number of possibilities could undermine this country’s development prospects, energy and the country’s energy security, is often overlooked as a potential catalyst for future setbacks. Diesel supply, on which much of the country depends for power generation, is fully funded by donor nations. Second time JES contributor Katerina Oskarsson explores just how tenuous the situation may become if a new [electrical] power regime cannot be put in place.

Chinese Inroads into Central Asia: Focus on Oil and Gas

Tuesday, 20 November 2012 00:00 Aditya Malhotra

After the fall of the Soviet Union, most former Soviet republics sought to diversify their economic and trade relations away from a Russia-centric policy. At the same time to the east, China evolved from a net oil producer to a net importer and logically looked to its west for its own diversification prospects. Oh, how times have changed. Today the Kazakhstans and Turkmenistans of the world fear China’s growing influence in their own markets and again seek to diversify their economic exchange with the rest of the world. But in a cash-strapped universe China remains Central Asia’s biggest deep-pockets trade partner, cash rich, and is determined to expand its investments and influence across the region.