Research Library

This working paper discusses the “pattern of wary engagement” between Russia and Iran and its implications for future regional security issues in the Middle East. The paper was presented as part of the "U.S.-Iran Relations at a Crossroads" conference at the Baker Institute.

This issue brief describes the current state of brackish groundwater use and development in the United States.

Jim Krane, fellow in energy studies, examines how reforms to subsidy programs and increases in gas and electricity prices could lower energy use in the GCC.

Though consumers generally pay higher electricity prices in areas with capacity markets, those markets also serve as an insurance mechanism to incentivize capacity additions and reduce the probability of extreme events. Graduate fellow Raúl Bajo Buenestado analyzes the implications of capacity markets for consumers in liberalized energy sectors.

This paper reports the key climate change and public policy issues addressed by guest speakers during the 2014-15 Climate Lecture Series hosted by the Center for Energy Studies.

This article analyzes the history of computing in electric power systems and why utilities persistently embraced analog technology before transitioning to digital computing machines: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, July 13, 2015.

This issue brief explores the relationship between the opening of Mexico’s energy sector and the future of the country’s automotive industry.

The accession of a new king in Saudi Arabia and the kingdom’s intervention in Yemen have overshadowed important moves to reform two of the kingdom’s key institutions. Incoming King Salman has taken steps to prepare Saudi Arabia for a new generation of leaders, both within the royal family and among the world’s largest oil export sector and its marquee company, Saudi Aramco. The changes involve installing new personalities into key positions and shifting the roles of long-serving managers. "Overall, the moves ought to enhance the resilience of the kingdom and its economy by shifting leadership responsibilities to a younger generation," writes fellow Jim Krane.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is starting her second term in office facing economic and political problems that feed into each other. These problems can be attributed to a large extent to mistakes her administration made during her first term. Rousseff’s macroeconomic policy proved to be inconsistent, and the choices she made in some key economic sectors, especially energy, were demonstrably disastrous. Rousseff now faces the enormous challenge of reconciling the leftwing populism that led her to victory with the inescapable need to regain the trust of the most dynamic sectors of Brazilian society, including the private sector.

In this paper, author Peter Hartley examines the recent evolution of markets for LNG, focusing especially on the increasing amount of LNG being traded spot or under short-term contracts of less than four-years duration. Hartley argues that explanations for this increase, and other recent changes in LNG trading, imply that the proportion of LNG being traded under long-term contracts is likely to continue to decline and that the flexibility of long-term contracts for trading LNG is likely to continue to increase.