Oilquake in the Middle East
Whatever the outcome of the protests, uprisings, and rebellions now sweeping the Middle East, one thing is guaranteed: the world of oil will be permanently transformed.
Geopolitics & Military
In field and for food, the return of structural adjustment
Africa is being measured for its land profitability potential. So are other regions in the political South. This process is part of the new structural agri-food adjustment programmes that are already in place in the developing South. It includes agri-investor friendly new industrial policies, the disinvestment by and withdrawal of government equity in profitable public sector enterprises, financial sector ‘reform’ that ushers in private banking and asset management.
Energy, food, revolution – an inextricable link
What we see is fairly simple – and incredibly complicated. The intertwining of markets, of energy and food, tied by biofuel production and national policies, and the fact that we are not in control of either one. And that when food and energy prices spike, the world is transformed.
Did Saudi Arabia really raise its oil production?
As we begin another week of turmoil in the Middle East, and countries further afield batten down the hatches in an effort to preclude being next, here are some of the things we don’t know: — Whether oil prices are going up to $220 a barrel (and $5 at the pump), or down to $70 a barrel and more like $2.50 for a gallon of gasoline in the United States; — Whether Saudi Arabia really increased its oil production last week, or if the truth is a bit different; — And, finally, whether Russia’s gentleman president, Dmitry Medvedev, has been rummaging through Vladimir Putin’s archive of paranoid off-the-cuff remarks, and truly does not grasp what is happening around him.
Cairo in Wisconsin
The call reportedly arrived from Cairo. Pizza for the protesters, the voice said. It was Saturday, February 20th, and by then Ian’s Pizza on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin, was overwhelmed. One employee had been assigned the sole task of answering the phone and taking down orders.
2008 all over again?
As oil prices reach $100 a barrel for the first time since 2008, many people are wondering whether 2011 will see a replay of crashing car sales, nose-diving airlines, and fuel-starved farmers.
The Middle East rises – Feb 28
– Protests in Oman Spread
– The Price of Food is at the Heart of This Wave of Revolutions
– The Arab Democratic Revolt
– Gorbachev: The US Must Take Blame for Fanning Islamic Fundamentalism
– The destiny of this pageant lies in the Kingdom of Oil
– Saudi Arabia: A Brief Guide to its Politics and Problems
The shores of Tripoli – Feb 27
– Libya celebrates as Gaddafi’s remote strongholds rise against him
– Building a new Libya
– Britain and Libya: “No line in the sand”
– The Vacuum After Qaddafi
Oil prices – Feb 27
– David Strahan: Oil price set to double if production is cut off
– NYT: A Tipping Point for Oil Prices
– Tverberg: WSJ, Financial Times Raise Issue of Oil Prices Causing Recession
ODAC Newsletter – Feb 25
Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s threat to fight to the death rather than cede power set off a rising tide of violence this week which has seen hundreds, maybe thousands killed. The future of the regime and the country still hangs in the balance. The growing chaos has also spread to Libya’s oil industry as companies shut down production and foreign workers flee.
Libya and beyond: What’s next for democracy?
Social, political, demographic, and other conditions in Libya are significantly different than in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain or elsewhere, so it is not surprising that the progress of the revolution has differed too.
Geometric progressions: What you *will* learn from an oil shock
What we have learned from past oil shocks (which few people outside the peak oil community have chosen to recognize) is pretty clear and simple – that the effect of oil on the economy, on individual lives, on the world as a whole is dramatically greater than can be expected by a direct arithmetical progression – that is, the effect of oil on whole systems is something like a geometric progression, increasing in complexity and impact well beyond what one would intuitively expect.
