Resources Archive

Heading into Sunday’s second-round presidential vote in Chile, there is one word that best sums up the energy policy debate in the Andean nation: diversification. That is, much like an individual pursuing a personal investment strategy, Chile is seeking an energy policy that brings increased diversity to its matrix. More specifically, security, efficiency and sustainability are the clear-cut issues facing policymakers and energy sector participants alike; Chile currently imports 97 percent of its fossil fuels and depends on hydropower for 42 percent of its electricity generation. In a twist to Sunday’s voting, President Sebastian Pinera’s successor is likely to be […]

Often overlooked by some Western policymakers engaged with the Mideast peace process, water-sharing arrangements have served as a significant driver of regional tensions dating back to Israel’s founding in 1948. Control of water resources—vital to all manner of economic development, food production and basic human security—has loomed just beneath the surface of many of the region’s headline-earning events of the past 50 years. For example, one of the myriad outcomes of Israel’s triumph in the 1967 Six-Day War—Israeli control of the Golan Heights—brought control of key sections of the Jordan River watershed, one of the few reliable freshwater sources in […]

A bill to reform Mexico’s energy sector passed both houses of Mexico’s Congress this week, bringing President Enrique Pena Nieto’s promised overhaul of the state-owned oil and gas industry a big step closer to becoming reality. The bill would usher in a dramatic opening of Mexico’s oil and gas industry, which was nationalized 75 years ago, and is hoped to revamp the country’s flagging oil production and attract billions of dollars in foreign investment. Mexico is currently the world’s ninth-largest oil producer and depends on the energy sector for one-third of its revenue, but inefficiency and corruption have plagued Pemex, […]

Last week, OPEC decided to leave its production ceiling unchanged at 30 million barrels per day (bpd), the target it set two years ago. On the face of it, this decision seems to reflect the self-proclaimed oil cartel’s satisfaction with current high oil prices. Over the past three years, OPEC has thrived with Brent crude averaging above $100 a barrel, boosting members’ revenues to record highs. High prices have even allowed the Vienna-based organization to become sloppy: OPEC stopped publishing individual country quotas five years ago, and most cartel members are producing all the oil they can; meanwhile, Saudi Arabia […]