Branding a Potential Energy Hub as National Interest in the Eastern Mediterranean

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-39
Author(s):  
Vasileios Balafas ◽  
Efstathios T. Fakiolas
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
International System ◽  
National Interest ◽  
Energy Hub ◽  
Regional Energy ◽  
Chess Game ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Energy Issues

As the global energy demand has been growing, the balance of the international system seems to shudder. Energy issues have become pivotal for national strategy. For example, Russia is challenging US primacy by using its energy resources, the US is trying to become an oil and gas net exporter, and China is striving to ensure influence in rich natural resources territories to secure energy supplies for its development. The authors argue that energy issues have set up a new chessboard of power on which countries improve their status, no matter whether they are energy importers or exporters. Such countries as Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, and Egypt are pursuing, without being major energy producers, to brand themselves as ideal regional “energy hubs” to serve national interest. Self-branding is not only a matter of declaration. It is primarily a matter of the energy major players recognizing this branding. It is this recognition that is the decisive moment that the countries concerned tip over the energy chess game by turning their aspirations into something more than an energy supply issue.

Maximizing the Potential of a Japan-Turkey Strategic Relationship

2019 ◽  
pp. 192-214
Author(s):  
Devrim Şahin ◽  
Ahmet Sözen
Keyword(s):  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Energy Hub ◽  
Regional Energy ◽  
High Level ◽  
Technology And Economy ◽  
Independent Behavior

The international system has experienced a shift from a Western-centric world dominated by the United States to a decentralized world. This accompanies a shift in the distribution of energy wherein China overtakes the US as the biggest oil importer. Energy is vital for the survival of countries' economic facilities. Japan is a country that needs to import the energy resources to run its industry. Thus, the security of its economic activities is dependent on the security of energy supplies. The fact that Turkey is a country with ambitions to become a regional energy center and has strong ties to the Middle East makes it vital to Japanese interests. Also, Japan's advanced technology and economy are vital to Turkey's ambitions of becoming an energy hub. These reciprocal interests make it possible for both countries to attain a high level of cooperation. Nevertheless, this depends on their self-awareness and political will in order to exhibit a more independent behavior which transcends their previously US-dominated foreign policy.

Politics will weigh on Equatorial Guinea gas fortunes

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Equatorial Guinea ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Energy Hub ◽  
Regional Energy ◽  
The Us ◽  
New Energy ◽  
Gas Potential ◽  
International Status

Subject Equatorial Guinea energy prospects. Significance With the US market buying less of its gas, Equatorial Guinea’s government is trying to revive its ailing economy and international status by finding new energy markets within Africa. Several events are planned next year showcasing the country’s oil and gas potential, and ambitions as a regional energy hub. However, questions over the likely successor to 76-year-old President Teodoro Obiang cloud the picture. Impacts Should Teodorin Obiang succeed his father, he could remove his popular brother from the oil ministry. New oil entrants must consider the risk of regime change resulting in more resource-nationalist policies from a new president. Barring an uprising or coup, the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea is likely to dominate politics for the foreseeable future.

scholarly journals Comparison of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Consortia from Surface and Deep Waters of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: Characterization and Degradation Potential

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2246
Author(s):  
Georgia Charalampous ◽  
Efsevia Fragkou ◽  
Konstantinos A. Kormas ◽  
Alexandre B. De Menezes ◽  
Paraskevi N. Polymenakou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Sole Source ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Deep Waters ◽  
Degradation Rates ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
Set Up

The diversity and degradation capacity of hydrocarbon-degrading consortia from surface and deep waters of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea were studied in time-series experiments. Microcosms were set up in ONR7a medium at in situ temperatures of 25 °C and 14 °C for the Surface and Deep consortia, respectively, and crude oil as the sole source of carbon. The Deep consortium was additionally investigated at 25 °C to allow the direct comparison of the degradation rates to the Surface consortium. In total, ~50% of the alkanes and ~15% of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were degraded in all treatments by Day 24. Approximately ~95% of the total biodegradation by the Deep consortium took place within 6 days regardless of temperature, whereas comparable levels of degradation were reached on Day 12 by the Surface consortium. Both consortia were dominated by well-known hydrocarbon-degrading taxa. Temperature played a significant role in shaping the Deep consortia communities with Pseudomonas and Pseudoalteromonas dominating at 25 °C and Alcanivorax at 14 °C. Overall, the Deep consortium showed a higher efficiency for hydrocarbon degradation within the first week following contamination, which is critical in the case of oil spills, and thus merits further investigation for its exploitation in bioremediation technologies tailored to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

scholarly journals Cyclic Subcritical Water Injection into Bazhenov Oil Shale: Geochemical and Petrophysical Properties Evolution Due to Hydrothermal Exposure

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4570
Author(s):  
Aman Turakhanov ◽  
Albina Tsyshkova ◽  
Elena Mukhina ◽  
Evgeny Popov ◽  
Darya Kalacheva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Subcritical Water ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Microstructural Properties ◽  
Gas Generation ◽  
Geochemical Parameters

In situ shale or kerogen oil production is a promising approach to developing vast oil shale resources and increasing world energy demand. In this study, cyclic subcritical water injection in oil shale was investigated in laboratory conditions as a method for in situ oil shale retorting. Fifteen non-extracted oil shale samples from Bazhenov Formation in Russia (98 °C and 23.5 MPa reservoir conditions) were hydrothermally treated at 350 °C and in a 25 MPa semi-open system during 50 h in the cyclic regime. The influence of the artificial maturation on geochemical parameters, elastic and microstructural properties was studied. Rock-Eval pyrolysis of non-extracted and extracted oil shale samples before and after hydrothermal exposure and SARA analysis were employed to analyze bitumen and kerogen transformation to mobile hydrocarbons and immobile char. X-ray computed microtomography (XMT) was performed to characterize the microstructural properties of pore space. The results demonstrated significant porosity, specific pore surface area increase, and the appearance of microfractures in organic-rich layers. Acoustic measurements were carried out to estimate the alteration of elastic properties due to hydrothermal treatment. Both Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio decreased due to kerogen transformation to heavy oil and bitumen, which remain trapped before further oil and gas generation, and expulsion occurs. Ultimately, a developed kinetic model was applied to match kerogen and bitumen transformation with liquid and gas hydrocarbons production. The nonlinear least-squares optimization problem was solved during the integration of the system of differential equations to match produced hydrocarbons with pyrolysis derived kerogen and bitumen decomposition.

scholarly journals Forecast and Analysis of Regional Energy Demand Based on Grey Linear Regression Forecast Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 645 ◽  
pp. 012047
Author(s):  
Mingli Zhang ◽  
Zhongwei Li ◽  
Kun Song ◽  
Duojiao Guan ◽  
Na Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Linear Regression ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Forecast Model ◽  
Regional Energy ◽  
Regional Energy Demand

Energy outlook for the Arctic: 2020 and beyond

Polar Record ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graça Ermida
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Hydrocarbon Production ◽  
Arctic Circle ◽  
The Us ◽  
Energy Issues

ABSTRACTAt least four littoral countries have Arctic strategies that address energy issues. However, US, Canada, Russia and Norway strategies up to 2020 and beyond, reveal different interests in exploring Arctic resources. While Arctic oil and gas are of strategic importance to Russia and to Norway, Canada and the US seem content with continuing their current extraction predominantly south of the Arctic Circle. Despite the different approaches, the outcomes seem strangely similar. Indeed, despite the hype concerning the Arctic in the last decade, and for very diverse reasons, it is unlikely that any of these four countries will increase hydrocarbon production in the Arctic during the period under analysis. This was true even before the recent drop in oil prices. For all its potential, it is unclear what lies ahead for the region.

II. Caspian Energy: Oil and Gas Resources and the Global Market

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-406
Author(s):  
Mehdi Parvizi Amineh ◽  
Henk Houweling
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
International System ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
The Us ◽  
Oil And Gas Resources ◽  
The Military

AbstractThis article develops several concepts of critical geopolitics and relates them to the energy resources of the Caspian Region. Energy resources beyond borders may be accessed by trade, respectively by conquest, domination and changing property rights. These are the survival strategies of human groups in the international system. The article differentiates between demand-induced scarcity, supply-induced scarcity, structural scarcity and the creation, respectively, transfer of property rights. Together, the behaviors referred to by these concepts create a field of social forces that cross state borders involving state and a variety of non-state actors. During World War II, the US began to separate the military borders of the country from its legal-territorial borders. By dominating the world's oceans, the Anglo-Saxon power presided over the capacity to induce scarcity by interdicting maritime supplies to allies and enemies alike. Today, overland transport increasingly connects economies and energy supplies on the Eurasian continent. The US has therefore to go on land in order to pre-empt the land-based powers from unifying their economies and energy supplies.

scholarly journals The origins and evolution of Cypriot glazed ware productions during the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries CE

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Ting ◽  
Thilo Rehren ◽  
Athanasios Vionis ◽  
Vasiliki Kassianidou
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Thin Section Petrography ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
Full Consideration

AbstractThis paper challenges the conventional characterisation of glazed ware productions in the eastern Mediterranean, especially the ones which did not feature the use of opaque or tin-glazed technology, as technologically stagnant and unsusceptible to broader socio-economic developments from the late medieval period onwards. Focusing on the Cypriot example, we devise a new approach that combines scientific analyses (thin-section petrography and SEM-EDS) and a full consideration of the chaîne opératoire in context to highlight the changes in technology and craft organisation of glazed ware productions concentrating in the Paphos, Famagusta and Lapithos region during the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries CE. Our results indicate that the Paphos production was short-lived, lasting from the establishment of Frankish rule in Cyprus in the thirteenth century to the aftermath of the fall of the Crusader campaigns in the fourteenth century. However, glazed ware production continued in Famagusta and Lapithos from the late thirteenth/fourteenth centuries through to the seventeenth century, using technical practices that were evidently different from the Paphos production. It is possible that these productions were set up to serve the new, local demands deriving from an intensification of commercial activities on the island. Further changes occurred to the technical practices of the Famagusta and Lapithos productions around the 16th/17th centuries, coinciding with the displacement of populations and socio-political organisation brought by the Ottoman rule.

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