Brazil is a rising power politically, economically and militarily. Not only is it South America’s largest country in terms of population, economic heft, military strength and land area, its geopolitical power is expanding while most of its traditional competitors — namely Argentina and Venezuela — are contracting.
But while Brazil is almost certain in the next [...]

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Preface: The Caspian Sea Summit and the Historical Crossroads of the 21st Century
This article is part of The Sino-Russia Coalition: Challenging America’s Ambitions in Eurasia (September 23, 2007). For editorial reasons the article is being published by Global Research in three parts. It is strongly advised that readers also study the prior piece.
History is in [...]

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Daniel Yergin’s first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterwards the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-seller Energy Future. Following on from there, The Prize, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of [...]

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Best of all, Opec now knows that it can count on Vladimir Putin to help it in two ways – one intentional, the other unintentional. Putin will cooperate with Opec because high oil prices make it easier for him both to provide Russia’s people with butter and his military with guns. He is also inadvertently [...]

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Russia has made significant cuts to oil supplies sent to German refineries recently, rekindling concerns in Germany over the reliability of Russian energy supplies.
Lukoil, Russia’s second largest oil producer, on Friday acknowledged that supplies to Germany had been reduced by about one-third in July and August but refused to explain why the reduction had occurred.
Read [...]

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The sharp reality is that oil prices continue to rise and the conventional wisdom says the trend is unlikely to abate (Forbes) anytime soon. Some analysts forecast oil could reach one hundred dollars a barrel (Economic Times) within the year. A recent report from Britain’s Center for Global Energy Studies says that current prices are [...]

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From December 2006 to March 2007, Heritage Foundation scholars conducted a computer simula­tion and gaming exercise that examined the likely economic and policy consequences of a major oil disruption in the Persian Gulf. The exercise utilized a realistic scenario, state-of-the-art macroeconomic modeling, and a knowledgeable team of subject-matter experts from government, business, aca­demia, and research [...]

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Even with its strength as one of the world’s largest oil producers, Iran is dependent on foreign energy and is taking stiff measures to rectify the situation.
Using oil as geo-strategic weapon
“Oil is both Iran’s strategic strong point and its strategic weak point,” an Iranian political scientist told ISN Security Watch on the condition of anonymity. [...]

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For exporting countries, in the short-to-medium-term, high oil prices will generate budget surpluses and boost their economies. Things, however, are quite different in the long-term for oil revenues will ebb, due to reduction in reserves, causing dramatic political and economical upheavals. Because oil revenues for top oil producing countries represent the main source of their [...]

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Lookout: Oil is a temporary tool of foreign policy; Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez
and other leaders of oil-rich nations must plan ahead to the day when oil wells run dry
The fast rising demand for oil by China and India, sharply declining fresh discoveries, and high prices are empowering the countries with large reserves of black gold [...]

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I want to briefly look at a development in the oil markets, which I find intriguing. Dr. Woody Brock, in a recent paper on oil prices, wrote a rather interesting sentence, to wit, that Iran would not have net oil to export in 2014.
I found that rather remarkable. Woody is very serious and sober-minded even [...]

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This week two members of the “Axis of Oil” - Russia and Venezuela - were especially active and transparent so the world can see their true colors. Venezuela nationalized their oil industry and kicked all US oil interests out. Russia is doing their best to do the same. They want to use oil not [...]

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President Hugo Chavez won instant political capital by forcing U.S. oil giants from Venezuela but the nationalist moves pose economic challenges that could undermine his socialist revolution.
Chavez, who prides himself on his tirades against U.S. President George W. Bush, this week struck his most costly blow against any company since coming to power in [...]

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Yet now, according to the Financial Times, the Iraqi government last Friday “revived a contract signed by the Saddam Hussein administration allowing a state-owned Chinese oil company to develop an Iraqi oil field.” The deal to develop the al-Ahdab field in Iraq was signed with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in 1997 and was valued [...]

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TEHRAN — Iran will not rule out using oil as a weapon if the United States resorts to military action against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, an Iranian oil official said in remarks published on Tuesday.
“When the Americans say that military action in regard to the nuclear issue has not been put [...]

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KUALA LUMPUR: Iran is in discussions to store strategic oil reserves in China and to build refineries around Asia, Iran’s oil minister, Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh, said Monday, as the country seeks secure outlets for its crude in the face of Western economic sanctions.
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Oil, gas – and the Great Game revived
The May summit between the European Union and Russia ran aground on the issue of energy cooperation: the EU imports a quarter of its oil and gas from Russia and is concerned at Moscow’s growing political influence in the region. The agreement signed on 12 May by President [...]

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How the aggressive behavior of the world’s second largest exporter could drive prices higher for everyone.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Russia is again flexing its energy muscle.
On Friday, reports said Russia may cancel a contract it has with BP to develop a huge natural gas field in the middle of the country, claiming BP wasn’t producing [...]

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While our attention has been directed toward threats to our economy from terror attacks resulting in disruptions of oil shipments from the Middle East, a titanic situation has been brewing in Nigeria. FSM Contributing Editor J. Peter Pham, Ph.D., has this critically important story.
In a study published several years ago, two scholars who themselves hail [...]

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The United States is the largest oil importer in the world, bringing in 13.5 million barrels per day (mbd), which accounts for 63.5 percent of total U.S. daily consumption (20.6 mbd).[1] Oil from the Middle East–specifically, the Persian Gulf–accounts for 20 percent of U.S. oil imports, and this dependence is growing. By 2017, the U.S. [...]

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MIAMI, May 1 (UPI) — Venezuela assumed majority control Tuesday over its most bountiful oilfields — the Orinoco Belt — from foreign investors, the latest effort by President Hugo Chavez to retake control of the country’s petroleum industry.
In a ceremony held on International Workers’ Day, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez announced Venezuelan oil workers were [...]

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