Research Library

As the implementation of Mexico’s historic energy reform gets underway, the debate has tended to overlook a key question at the intersection of technology and the new legislation: How can Mexico create an institutional framework supported by policies, laws and organizations to facilitate technology transfers and foster local innovation? Simply put, how will international oil companies transfer technology to Mexican companies and research facilities?

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.

This study examines the effects of lifting the 40-year-old U.S. crude export ban on crude pricing, energy security and energy sector investment. It includes a statistical analysis that explains what the relationship would be between the prices of crudes of different qualities in an unconstrained setting, which, according to author Ken Medlock, is important to providing a more accurate assessment of the impact of current U.S. policy.

Saudi Arabia's role in global energy markets is changing. The kingdom is diverting crude oil into an expanding refining sector and moving beyond its role as global “swing supplier” of crude oil, writes Jim Krane.

This paper investigates how new potential and proposed regulations will influence the natural gas market in the United States in the coming decades, using the Rice World Gas Trade Model (RWGTM) to examine scenarios in which domestic natural gas development is stressed in a variety of ways. It considers a range of possible policy actions from the federal to the local level.

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.

After decades of underinvestment, Mexico's natural gas pipeline network faces severe limitations in capacity and geographical coverage, leading to limitations in meeting domestic demand. To correct this, the government has launched an aggressive program to upgrade natural gas transport capabilities. The natural gas infrastructure program and energy reform are designed in part to help decrease Mexico’s reliance on imports of fertilizers (urea) and basic food staples, which stand at approximately 70 percent and 43 percent of domestic consumption, respectively. Increasing natural gas production and infrastructure will contribute to gains in ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer production, which would in turn have a positive impact on Mexico’s agroindustry.

This fall the Argentine government passed a new hydrocarbons bill with the intent of attracting foreign direct investment in its energy sector, particularly in shale oil and shale gas areas. In this article, scholar David Mares provides context for the reform and examines the current state of Argentina's oil and gas sector.

As the United States once again ramps up involvement in Iraq, it makes sense to examine U.S. interests and strategy while considering what might constitute realistic parameters for participation and outcome. In this issue brief, energy fellow Jim Krane explores answers to the question "What are U.S. interests in Iraq and how are they best pursued?"

"Time appears ripe for an energy-for-security exchange between member states of NATO and those of the energy-exporting Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)," writes Jim Krane, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies. "Closer ties between the two regions could deepen Europe’s involvement in the security of its energy supply, while boosting the hard security of the Gulf’s Western-allied monarchies."