Energy

11 Items

An oil tanker is moored at the Sheskharis complex, part of Chernomortransneft JSC, a subsidiary of Transneft PJSC, in Novorossiysk, Russia

AP Photo, File

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government

The Price Cap on Russian Oil Exports, Explained

| Dec. 05, 2022

The price cap on Russian oil implemented today by the G7 countries plus Australia represents a novel approach to sanctions. The policy is designed to reduce Russian fossil fuel revenues while keeping Russian oil on the market. In this brief, Catherine Wolfram, Simon Johnson, and Łukasz Rachel explain the basic economic principles at work and discuss some of the critiques of the price cap. 

Gas flares are seen at the Rumaila oil refinery, near the city of Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Oil, Conflict, and U.S. National Interests

    Author:
  • Jeff D. Colgan
| October 2013

The influence of oil on conflict is often poorly understood. In U.S. public debates about the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars, both sides focused excessively on the question of whether the United States was fighting for possession of oil reserves; neither sought a broader understanding of how oil shaped the preconditions for war.

The U.S. Shale Oil Boom: Potential Impacts and Vulnerabilities of an Unconventional Energy Source

AP Images

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

The U.S. Shale Oil Boom: Potential Impacts and Vulnerabilities of an Unconventional Energy Source

| June 2013

A new study by Belfer Center Geopolitics of Energy researcher Leonardo Maugeri finds that oil production capacity is surging throughout the world, but the United States in particular will experience unprecedented output as a result of technological advances and some unique attributes. This increased production will not be without challenges, however, as the drilling industry adapts to this relatively new method and overall output depending greatly on price stability. In the end, the U.S. may yet still import oil from other countries. The findings by Maugeri, a former oil industry executive who is now a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, are based on an original field-by-field analysis of the world’s major oil formations and exploration projects.

Global Oil Production is Surging: Implications for Prices, Geopolitics, and the Environment

AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani, File

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Global Oil Production is Surging: Implications for Prices, Geopolitics, and the Environment

| June 2012

A new study by Belfer Center Geopolitics of Energy researcher Leonardo Maugeri finds that oil production capacity is surging in the United States and several other countries at such a fast pace that global oil output capacity is likely to grow by nearly 20 percent by 2020.  This could prompt a plunge or even a collapse in oil prices.  The findings by Maugeri, a former oil industry executive who is now a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, are based on an original field-by-field analysis of the world’s major oil formations and exploration projects.

A customer prepares to pump gas at a filling station in Springfield, Ill., on Jan. 29, 2010.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Reducing the U.S. Transportation Sector's Oil Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

This policy brief is based on Belfer Center paper #2010-02 and an article published in Energy Policy, Vol. 38, No. 3.

Oil security and the threat of climate disruption have focused attention on the transportation sector, which consumes 70% of the oil used in the United States.
This study explores several policy scenarios for reducing oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

Policy Brief - Consortium for Energy Policy Research

Acting in Time on Energy Policy

| May 20, 2009

This policy brief outlines urgent priorities for U.S. energy policy at the dawn of the Obama administration, and recommends specific steps that the U.S. government should take to address the numerous energy-related challenges facing the United States. It is based on the book, Acting in Time on Energy Policy (Brookings 2009), edited by Kelly Sims Gallagher, director of the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center.

We concentrate on six topics: climate change policy, carbon capture and storage policy, oil security policy, energy-technology innovation policy, electricity market structure, and infrastructure policy. The United States cannot afford to wait any longer to enact long-term policies on these topics. In fact, acting early is clearly in the longer-term interest of the United States.

Policy Brief - Caspian Studies Program

U.S. Policy toward the Caspian Region: Recommendations for the Bush Administration

| July 13, 2001

The brief proposes that a number of U.S. interests can be advanced through an active and coherent policy toward the Caspian region: viability and stability of global energy supplies and diversification of supply from areas other than the Persian Gulf; improved relations with the Muslim world; and support for Turkey. Among the ways to promote those interests, the memorandum suggests continued efforts to assist in the success of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project; continued activity aimed at solving the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict; and working cooperatively with Russia, while remaining firm in the U.S. commitment to support the independence of the states of the region.