Research Library

Electricity is the new oil when it comes to energy security, writes Mark Finley, fellow in energy and global oil. The immediacy of power outages and the ubiquity of critical elements of modern life powered by electricity mean the impact of oil supply disruptions are a walk in the park compared to our power vulnerabilities.

Energy fellow Michelle Michot Foss explains why hydrocarbons are critical minerals for the energy transition and decarbonization efforts.

When President-elect Joe Biden assumes office in January, he will be compelled to deal with the most important and ferociously complicated geopolitical question the United States faces today: how to manage its relations with China. Fellow Joe Barnes explains how the U.S.-China situation differs from the Cold War dynamic, and how the U.S. will best be served in the years ahead. Read more at the Baker Institute Blog.

Prices of natural gas have fallen precipitously in recent months as the global COVID-19 pandemic deepened the already existing misalignment between growing supply and relatively sluggish demand. Post-COVID-19 recovery should increase the demand through 2022, but a soft market is expected to continue through 2025. These conditions could provide an unprecedented opportunity for natural gas buyers/importers.

The staggering collapse in Venezuela's oil and gas industry has renewed calls for liberalizing reforms. But a democratic transition and legal reforms may not be enough to attract the large investments needed.

Current gloom notwithstanding, oil will likely remain the world’s most important energy resource for multiple decades, says energy fellow Gabriel Collins. Baker Institute blog: https://bit.ly/34fV3d1

President Vladimir Putin's decision to withdraw the "main part" of Russia's forces from Syria blindsided most foreign policy experts and set off wide speculation about the reasons behind his move, writes Bonner Means Baker Fellow Joe Barnes.

Although the hemisphere is keen to insulate itself from Venezuela’s political and economic problems, the country constantly challenges regional capabilities in crisis management. The latest victim of the turmoil in Venezuela is the Brazilian government.

Talk of a “pivot to Asia” that supposedly would mark President Obama’s second term is “misplaced and even simplistic,” writes fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen. In a globalized world, “key U.S. relationships with strategic and commercial partners … cannot be addressed in isolation from one another. The convergence of U.S. ties and Asian ties with the Middle East is a case in point highlights how regions and issues are interconnected as never before.”