By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. Editor, Oil Economy Focus “We will remain a beacon of liberty and opportunity around the world.” US National Security Strategy 2017 Looking at the news on the television, computer, or in social media, one gets the impression that all is confusion in the world. Who knows what games are being played…
By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. Editor, Oil Economy Focus Sub-Saharan Africa contains 7% of world reserves and provides 11% of global production. It is hoped that West Africa will be one of the sources of oil and gas with the greatest growth for the American economy. Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group, May 2001…
By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. Editor, Oil Economy Focus The attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 made energy security a key part in the design of US petroleum strategy and West Africa was important in this. China, too, would significantly increase its petroleum investments in that region to secure resources for its…
By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. Editor, Oil Economy Focus “In terms of reserves, I think that West Africa could reach 100 billion barrels, which is equivalent to Iran or Kuwait” Gene Van Dyk, owner Vanco Energy, 2003 The favorable expectations during the first decade of the 2000s with regard to West African petroleum were illustrated…
By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. This is the first of a series entitled “West Africa: Important for China. But still so for the US?” that are subtitled “The importance for the US and China of sub-Saharan West African petroleum producers from 1999 to 2019”. They will look at the importance to the United States and China…
By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. A couple of decades ago Petróleos de Venezuela, PDVSA, had plans to use part of the crude oil in the Orinoco Oil Belt as a feedstock for electricity generation. Thus “Orimulsion” came into being. Operations, however, were closed down in 2005 but there is little doubt that its use as a…
by Carmen C. Seekatz This article presents an introduction to global indebtedness and to some of the proposed solutions to the problem. Here, a long-term global perspective is needed to allow the design of adequate policies. Among the vulnerabilities seen is the level of debt, including public debt, which has increased significantly in the global…
On the 27th November this year the Venezuelan company Grupo Orinoco and the International Centre for Energy and Environment (CIEA) of the Institute of Superior Administrative Studies (IESA) organized a forum, held in Caracas, entitled the “Recuperation of the Hydrocarbons Sector in the Post-Petroleum Venezuela”. The objectives of the forum: Make known a plan for…
By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. (This article continues from Part One) Guyana on the road to becoming a top producer A final investment decision on the first phase of development for the Liza field was made, and also results were reported from the Liza-4 well, which the ExxonMobil said encountered more than 197 feet of high-quality,…
By Stuart Wilkinson, OEF. Discovered resources globally of conventional oil and natural gas surpassed 4.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the first half of 2018, and Guyana was the top country in terms of total discovered resources. In this South American country bordering on Venezuela, US major ExxonMobil made three major discoveries in the…