List of Energy and the Environment articles
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Hanson_lead How Venezuela Struck It Poor
The tragic — and totally avoidable — self-destruction of one of the world’s richest oil economies.
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Mexican President Elect Andres Manuel López Obrador speaks after his electoral victory, Mexico City, Mexico, Jul. 1, 2018. (Pedro Mera/Getty Images) Mexico’s Populist New President Unlikely to Derail Energy Reform
López Obrador won’t reverse the country’s historic oil opening — but he won’t expand it, either.
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Family members shout slogans as they wait outside the Kobar prison in north Khartoum to welcome their loved ones after Sudan released dozens of opposition activists Feb. 18 who were arrested in January when authorities cracked down on protests against rising food prices. (Ebrahim Hamid/AFP/Getty Images) Sanctions Against Sudan Didn’t Harm an Oppressive Government — They Helped It
The end of economic isolation hasn’t brought a financial windfall or more freedom. Instead, the regime is as strong as ever while ordinary people suffer.
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An oil tanker prepares to dock at Khark Island in the Persian Gulf on March 12, 2017. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images) Trump’s Push to Ban Iranian Oil Could Mean Pain at the Pump
Big buyers of Iranian oil such as China are seen as unlikely to cut purchases to zero, but sanctions will still send crude prices higher.
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OPEC Conference President Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih (2ndR), OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo (R) and Angola's Governor for OPEC and Chairman of the Board of Governors Estevao Pedro (2nd L) the 173rd OPEC Conference of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, on November 30, 2017. (Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images) This Isn’t Your Father’s OPEC Anymore
Global oil markets are controlled by Russia and Saudi Arabia — despite America’s shale boom.
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U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sign documents as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo Jong, look on in Singapore on June 12, 2018. Total Denuclearization Is an Unattainable Goal. Here’s How to Reduce the North Korean Threat.
The United States and South Korea must help Pyongyang convert its military nuclear complex for civilian use.
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An Iraqi worker at an oil refinery in Nasiriyah, Oct. 30, 2015. (Haidar Mohammed Ali/AFP/Getty Images) OPEC Agrees to Boost Oil Output
The oil cartel vowed to add 1 million barrels a day to markets. It won’t add quite that much.
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A Libyan fireman stands in front of smoke and flames rising from a storage tank at an oil facility in northern Libya's Ras Lanuf region on January 23, 2016, after it was set ablaze earlier in the week following attacks launched by Islamic State jihadists to seize key port terminals. The West Is Letting Libya Tear Itself Apart
Calling for elections in the absence of stable institutions while competing for diplomatic and economic influence won’t rebuild the country — it will destroy it.
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Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak at an OPEC meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on April 20. (Amer Hilabi/AFP/Getty Images) OPEC Close to Agreement to Open the Oil Taps
With or without Iranian cooperation, extra barrels of crude could help meet rising demand. But there’s still reason to fear a price spike later this year.
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Above: Two people look over the balcony on the second floor of the Parliament building in Georgetown on April 26. Top: In a section of Georgetown called Houston, contractors are building out a new oil industry depot, capable of storing needed equipment, fuel, water, cement, fluids, and other materials that contractors working in Guyana’s deep waters need. The base already has a contract to supply ExxonMobil. (Micah Maidenberg for Foreign Policy) The Country That Wasn’t Ready to Win the Lottery
Guyana just discovered it owns enough oil to solve all its problems — and cause even bigger ones.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (L) at the Great Hall of the People on March 17, 2017 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang - Pool/Getty Images) China Smells Opportunity in the Middle East’s Crisis
Beijing is using the region's ongoing woes to solidify its own geopolitical agenda.
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Indian police clash with protestors on the beach at Idinathakarai village near the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in southern Tamil Nadu on Sept. 10, 2012. Democracies Need a Little Help From Their Friends
The war against foreign-funded NGOs — from India to Israel — is harming democratic governance, not enhancing it.
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An Ethiopian U.N. peacekeeper patrols the Amiet Market in Abyei. The market has become the largest trading hub in the region and a symbol of peace between the Misseriya nomads from Sudan and the Ngok Dinka from South Sudan. Local leaders use the market to resolve issues of conflict and are working together to bring stability to the area, which has been contested for more than ten years. Conflict in Abyei Could Reignite South Sudan’s Civil War
If the U.N. withdraws peacekeepers from a long-contested oil-rich enclave, it's likely to spark further fighting in an already unstable region.
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An employee works on an iron cage at the Nord Stream 2 facility in Sassnitz, Germany, in October 2017. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images) U.S. Close to Imposing Sanctions on European Companies in Russian Pipeline Project
The decision would test already fraught relations with Germany, other allies.
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Teenagers from a boxing school take part in a training session in the Caspian Sea near Soviet oil rigs in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on June 27, 2015. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images) Why the West Needs Azerbaijan
There is only one way for vital Asian oil and gas resources to reach Europe without passing through Russia and Iran: through the narrow “Ganja Gap.”