03 | Electric World Order | Demand destruction

03 | Electric World Order | Demand destruction

How is the Middle East war going to change the energy strategies of many countries - and what does that mean for oil and gas producers?

Global powers have long relied upon the threat of cutting off fossil energy flows – or the revenues from selling them – to discipline and coerce other countries. The US has done this for decades with oil. Five of the seven countries attacked by the US under the second Trump administration are rich in oil. Even in the chaos of the current US administration, a desire to perpetuate a globally traded fossil fuel system persists. But the emergence of cheap clean energy tech and electrification complicates the picture.

Guests: 

• Helen Thompson - Professor of political economy, Cambridge University; former co-host of the LRB's Talking Politics podcast. NB: We interviewed Helen before the current Middle East war broke out.
• Alex Turnbull - Managing director, Sagax Capital; energy researcher

Shownotes:

• We highly recommend Alex's recent post on modelling commodities procurement amid geopolitical risk, and his essay with us from 2022 on addressing gaps in energy modelling.
• Alex mentions Jun Ukita Shepard, whose energy supply chain modelling work includes the Nature Energy paper she wrote with Lincoln Pratt: The Myth of US Energy Independence
• Helen's most recent book is Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century