Experts in the News

Oil prices have plummeted and now hover just below $50 a barrel. This is bad news for countries that depend on oil sales to China. Energy fellow Jim Krane said it's particularly tough on Saudi Arabia.

In order to achieve global climate change goals, by 2035 ”the fossil fuel industry [could be left with] $28 trillion in lost revenues from stranded reserves,” said energy fellow Jim Krane.

“Targeting oil infrastructure could raise prices and bring worldwide economic pain and put Iran on the front burner,” which might be exactly the kind of message its leaders are looking to send, said energy fellow Jim Krane.

Should Saudi Arabia join a few other big oil producers in a streamlined cartel? Energy fellow Jim Krane's analyzed this question.

Fellow Jim Krane’s recent book, “Energy Kingdoms,” won the Book Award 2019 prize at the Middle East Studies Association conference last week in New Orleans. Twenty-two books were submitted for consideration in the biannual contest, which is sponsored by the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies. In the book, Krane explained the important roles of oil in the domestic economies and internal politics of the Persian Gulf states, and the hard choices that will have to be made as governments try to wean their citizens from a troubling reliance on it.