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.
Although Saudi Arabia has appointed a new oil minister, it will most likely continue to maintain its current petroleum production policy.
California has for too long turned a blind eye to squarely managing its own oil, choosing instead to target other states’ and countries’ fossil fuels.
Riyadh is displaying a new foreign policy activism under the leadership of King Salman and his powerful son.
The oil price crash has implications for the global economy, geopolitics, and efforts to limit carbon emissions.
The G7 must carry forward the mandate of wrestling the climate change tragedy of horizons toward a more constructive and less catastrophic denouement.
Despite its massive capital, scope, and durability, the oil sector remains extremely opaque. Open source data are needed to quantify the oil sector’s climate responsibilities.