By Abbie Schepps

The U.S., Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Iceland are all laying claim to an area of the arctic. Rich in oil and holding 30% of the Earth’s natural gas, the countries are engaged in a massive territorial dispute. The real appeal is that the melting ice, vanishing at 13% a decade, is expected to make drilling, mining and shipping easier. In order to claim a portion of the arctic, the countries are going to have to show an extension of their continental shelf, a “hugely expensive and complicated” task. Though Norway is the only nation to have its claim for a portion approved, Canada is currently scrambling to defend its territory. Canada claims this is a sovereign Canadian waterway and not an international waterway. With the arctic ice melting rapidly, there is at least an understanding that these countries are better off cooperating.

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September 16, 2015

By Catherine Kent

Reuters reports that Iran has caught the European Union’s eye as a potential gas-supplying suitor. Iran has the world’s second largest gas reserve, and could reduce the Europe’s reliance on Russia (prior to the recent sanctions, Russia supplied one third ($80 billion a year) of Europe’s natural gas). Once a pipeline is built, the only thing standing in the way of this EU-Iran relationship is the existing sanctions on Iran.

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September 26, 2014

By Aliza Kempner

As the conflict continues to smolder between Russia and Ukraine, new participants are hoping to step onto the natural gas scene. Azerbaijan, a small country seated between Russia and Iran, is looking to build a $45 billion natural gas pipeline to channel gas into Europe, territory previously covered by Russia’s natural gas supply. Connecting its drilling operations in the Caspian Sea to Italy, the preliminary plan is to carry 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

Politico has more on Azerbaijan’s ambitious plan and the possible threat it poses to Vladimir Putin. 

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April 23, 2014

By Abraham Shanedling

 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Hungary is against the European Union imposing sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Crimea.

 

In an interview with Vilaggazdasag newspaper, Orban said that economic sanctions are “not in the interests of either Europe, or much less Hungary.”

 

The comments are not surprising given that Russia is Hungary’s largest trading partner, with Hungary relying on Russia for the vast majority of its natural gas. Hungary also recently signed a 10 billion Europe deal with Russia to expand Hungary’s nuclear plant.

 

Reuters has more on the story.

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April 02, 2014

By Aliza Kempner

Work on the Nord Stream pipeline.
By Bair175 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0],
via Wikimedia Commons

The political scene remains fiery in the Crimean peninsula, it’s looking like Ukrainians may soon lose the ability to keep heat in their homes. Gazprom, Russia’s state-owed monopoly of natural gas, is threatening to pull the cord on its subsidized trading of natural gas to Ukraine. This isn’t just Ukraine’s problem either - most of Europe gets its gas from Russia, and the United States may soon add our own fuel to the fire.

In December of last year, former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych brokered a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Ukraine to purchase natural gas at a price of $268.50 per thousand cubic meters of gas rather than $400. Ukraine depends on Russia for between 60-70 percent of the gas is uses to heat homes and keep businesses running. Since then, however, Yanukovych has been overthrown in a frenzied uprising, and as the Kremlin recently reminded it, Ukraine still owes Gazprom a whopping $1.55 billion. This is a little more than most countries would be okay with spotting neighbors to cover the gas bill, especially when that neighbor was rumored to have stolen gas transported through its territory en route to Europe and already had a reputation for making late payments. Still, the loss of this deal, which had provided Ukraine with a total saving of $2 billion per year, could be catastrophic for Ukraine, especially as an unsteady new government tries to take charge and Russian troops intensify their attempts to control the region.

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March 20, 2014

By Phillip Yu

A $5.2 billion-dollar expansion of the Panama Canal is geared for completion in 2015. Already, studies have shown that this expansion can potentially provide a tremendous boost for natural gas producers in the Barnett Shale, a geological formation that acts as a large onshore natural gas field in Texas. The expansion of the Panama Canal will enable much larger ships to transport natural gas to China, Japan and other parts of Asia, where demand for natural gas is high but local supply is scarce. A 2011 study projected that the canal expansion will allow Texas to export an additional 15 million tons of cargo to the Pacific.

Read more at the Texas Tribune. 

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October 07, 2013