Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
New oils are emerging in the United States and worldwide. The degree to which global oils differ from one another is increasing, from carbon-laden oils that resist flow to ultra-light petroleum liquids trapped in tight shale oil. Developing these unconventional oils requires a clear departure from business-as-usual practices. The Carnegie Oil Initiative provides expert analysis, strategic guidance, and policy frameworks to manage new oil assets while protecting the climate.
Carnegie’s work to understand emerging new oils has been ongoing since our seminal publication, Understanding Unconventional Oil, in 2012. All publications from this project are archived here.
Today, oil is facing mounting pressure as the world tries hard to move towards a greener, cleaner future and vows to end the age of fossil fuels.
Oman recently became the first Middle Eastern country to join the very small club of unconventional oil and gas producers, currently led by the United States.
Policymakers have been focusing on long-term goals to wean California from oil, but here are three smart strategies to seriously shrink the petroleum sector’s climate impacts.
Petcoke, a highly-polluting byproduct of refining heavier oils, can be more polluting than coal. Broad indicators show that highly-degraded petcoke ends up being burned to generate power in Asia, making it important to take stock of global petcoke markets and flows around South Asia.
Sarah Chayes, Steve Coll, and Olarenwaju Suraju discussed how corruption can become an inextricable part of an economy and how civil society and the U.S. government can work to prevent it. (Runtime - 22:21)
Oil is one of the world’s most durable global commodities. With few ready commercial substitutes, its extraordinary staying power is demonstrated by its enduring energy sector dominance, even as market prices fluctuate dramatically and geopolitical disruptions strike.