IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/glopol/v10y2019i2p279-283.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why the Global Energy Transition Does Not Mean the End of the Petrostate

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Goldthau
  • Kirsten Westphal

Abstract

The world going low carbon is believed to put an end to petrostates, and to force incumbent oil producers to diversify their economies away from fossil fuels. This article challenges this assumption. Whether petrostates are in for the long game or end up with a ‘panic and pump’ strategy, it is argued, is a function of the lifting costs and the social costs of producing oil. What is more, the low‐carbon energy transition may well throw petrostates an additional lifeline, as fast decarbonizing OECD countries will shed some of their most energy‐intensive sectors, including refineries and petrochemicals, which opens up new export opportunities. Particularly for Middle Eastern petrostates it may therefore be very rational to further specialize in the high‐carbon segment. The policy challenge, therefore, will be twofold: managing a rapidly changing energy system in order to secure the transformation dividends it will bring, for human security and economic welfare; and balancing the (geo) political after pains of the incumbent fuels leaving the system.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Goldthau & Kirsten Westphal, 2019. "Why the Global Energy Transition Does Not Mean the End of the Petrostate," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 10(2), pages 279-283, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:glopol:v:10:y:2019:i:2:p:279-283
    DOI: 10.1111/1758-5899.12649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12649
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1758-5899.12649?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vakulchuk, Roman & Overland, Indra & Scholten, Daniel, 2020. "Renewable energy and geopolitics: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    2. Morgan Bazilian & Michael Bradshaw & Johannes Gabriel & Andreas Goldthau & Kirsten Westphal, 2020. "Four scenarios of the energy transition: Drivers, consequences, and implications for geopolitics," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(2), March.
    3. León-Vielma, J.E. & Ramos-Real, F.J. & Hernández Hernández, J.F., 2022. "The collapse of Venezuela's electricity sector from an energy governance perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Stoknes, Per Espen & Aslaksen, Iulie & Goluke, Ulrich & Randers, Jorgen & Garnåsjordet, Per Arild, 2024. "Plausible futures for the Norwegian offshore energy sector: Business as usual, harvest or rebuild?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Ghanbari, Saeed & Mackay, Eric J. & Heinemann, Niklas & Alcalde, Juan & James, Alan & Allen, Michael J., 2020. "Impact of CO2 mixing with trapped hydrocarbons on CO2 storage capacity and security: A case study from the Captain aquifer (North Sea)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    6. Ostrowski, Wojciech, 2023. "The twilight of resource nationalism: From cyclicality to singularity?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. León-Vielma, J.E. & Ramos-Real, F.J. & Hernández Hernández, J.F. & Rodríguez-Brito, María Gracia, 2023. "An integrative strategy for Venezuela's electricity sector (VES), from an analysis of stakeholder perspectives," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Elena Shadrina, 2020. "Non-Hydropower Renewable Energy in Central Asia: Assessment of Deployment Status and Analysis of Underlying Factors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-29, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:glopol:v:10:y:2019:i:2:p:279-283. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.