Petroleum

Foreign Policy in Focus) – With oil prices down and wealthy countries bungling COVID-19, the pandemic has exposed the weaknesses that wealth papers over. During the reign of the Emperor Justinian I (527-565 AD), a mysterious plague spread out of the Nile Valley to Constantinople and finished off the Roman Empire. Appearing first in China […]

Featured

Russia defies US Sanctions, presses Syria on Long Term Trade, Investment deal for Energy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Russia and Syria are preparing to enter into a wide-ranging trade and investment deal, according to RT Arabic. Sunday night, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov arrived in Damascus to meet with high Syrian officials. On Monday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived, meeting with Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad and his […]

Climate Crisis

Burning Oil Strengthens Hurricanes like Laura, which sow Environmental Catastrophe when they Strike Petroleum Facilities like Lousiana’s

The Conversation

By John Pardue | – Hurricane Laura plowed through the heart of Louisiana’s oil and chemical industries as a powerful Category 4 storm, leaving a chlorine plant on fire and the potential for more hazardous damage in its wake. The burning BioLab facility sent dark smoke and chlorine gas into the air over the small […]

China

Will China’s bruited $400 Bn. investment in Iran make Beijing an Oil Gulf Power?

Middle East Monitor

By Niranjan Jose | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The relationship between China and Iran has been in the spotlight recently. A huge, 25-year deal is reportedly being considered that would see $400 billion of Chinese investment in Iranian energy and transport infrastructure. The deal is the latest effort by Beijing to expand […]

Donald Trump

Trump admits War Crime in Syria as Damascus Slams US ‘Oil Theft’

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last Monday, CNN reports US troops on patrol in eastern Syria were allowed to move through Syrian territory by the Syrian Arab Army, but then abruptly a small unit of Syrian troops fired on them. The US soldiers fired back, and took no casualties, but killed a Syrian soldier. There […]

China

The rise of the Middle Kingdom in the Middle East: Iran, Gulf Oil and China:

Middle East Monitor

By Arhama Siddiqa | – ( Middle East Monitor) – China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) stands as the most prominent example of the pivotal shift in Chinese foreign policy from Deng Xiaoping’s “bide and hide” philosophy to the current ambitious endeavours. The BRI is a titanic project focused on increasing connectivity by opening up […]

Featured

“Never Seen a Decline of this Magnitude” – ExxonMobil, Crashed by Covid, gets taste of looming Electric Vehicle Crisis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ashton Nichols at The Dallas Morning News reports that ExxonMobil lost over $1 billion in the second quarter, up from a $600 million lost in the first. Year on year, its revenues are down 33% for the first half of this year. It has been forced to close down half […]

Houthi

Yemen: Houthi Stonewalling on Leaking Oil Supertanker endangers Red Sea Ecology, 30 Million Livelihoods

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – Houthi authorities in Yemen should immediately permit United Nations experts access to a supertanker moored off Yemen’s coast that risks spilling over a million barrels of crude oil into the Red Sea, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN says a spill would have catastrophic environmental and humanitarian consequences, including […]

Featured

Was February ’20 Peak Oil Demand? Petroleum might never Recover From Covid-19 and EVs

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Julien Mieville at AFP asks the big question: Has global demand for petroleum peaked? The meme of “peak oil” once referred to the notion that production would at some point peak and then fall, driving prices sky high, but that theory developed before the fracking revolution and was never very […]