Fossil fuels and energy companies
The vast majority of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels. How much we continue to lean on these fuels, and which ones will play the most important roles going forward, depends on the governance of fossil fuel production, transportation, and consumption around the world. For example, oil and gas are controlled in many parts of the world by state-owned companies, which has affected the pace of exploration and development.
Their decisions have enormous implications for a wide range of policy issues such as taxation, investment protection, immigration across many countries with different political and economic institutions. MNCs also may have strong political influence domestically.
1 Saudi Arabian Oil Co. ( Saudi Aramco) (Tadawul: 2222)
2 PetroChina Co. Ltd. ( PTR)
3 China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. ( SNP)
4 Exxon Mobil Corp. ( XOM)
5 TotalEnergies SE (TOT)
6 BP PLC (BP)
7 Chevron Corp. ( CVX)
8 Marathon Petroleum Corp. ( MPC)
They create carbon-rich deposits that are extracted and burned for energy. They are non-renewable and currently supply around 80% of the world's energy. They are also used to make plastic, steel and a huge range of products. There are three types of fossil fuel coal, oil and gas.
Case studies and examples - try to relate your theoretical understanding to some real-world examples.
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What can governments do to maintain power?
How Much Power do MNCs have? How does this manifest itself?
Aims and practice of the organization - how do they operate around the world? What do they set out to do? How successful are they? How far does their practice meet their aims?
How can governments maintain power from these fossil fuels companies? Governments can choose from a wide range of policy interventions and financing measures to support the transformation of energy and industrial systems, improve energy efficiency, tackle environmental pollution, and protect and replenish natural capital.
- Taxes on harmful environmental activities, tighter regulations including tax rebates for meeting these standards.
- Loans and grants for green investments in sustainable agriculture, renewable or low-carbon energy sources, energy-efficient buildings, public walkways and so on.
- Governments offering subsidies and grant funding to research institutes, academic institutions and private R&D firms to boost innovation and develop transformative technologies such as renewable energy, carbon capture, waste management, and energy efficiency.
Structure of the organization (s) - who are the big players in the sector? Where do they operate? What is their relationship with governments (nation-states) and IGOs? What rules are they governed by? How powerful are they (customers, worth, employees, etc.)?
Extra- informational video explaining Fossil fuel:
Effects of the organization - how does this organization impact on world governance, sovereignty, and legitimacy? How does the trans-national nature of the company affect global governance?
Alberta’s exploitation of oil got started during World War I (when it was a major supplier to Britain), but was sporadic until after World War II. Then in 1947, Imperial Oil struck black gold near the town of Leduc. The ensuing oil boom transformed Alberta into Canada’s fossil-fuel hub. But like all parties, this one didn’t last forever. By 1998, Alberta’s conventional oil-and-gas production had peaked. Figure 1 tells the story.
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The caveat to Figure 1 is that it excludes the growing quantity of non-conventional oil extracted from the Athabasca tar sands. (Bitumen from the tar sands now constitutes the majority of Alberta’s oil production.) When the tar-sands party will peak, nobody knows.
Something to watch for, though, is how rapidly Alberta’s natural gas production declines. That’s because extracting oil from the tar sand requires profligate amounts of natural gas.2 (The gas is used to heat water, which is then pumped through the sand to extract the oil.) If Alberta’s natural gas production collapses, much of the tar-sands deposit may prove
The vast total captured by petrostates and fossil fuel companies since 1970 is $52tn, providing the power to “buy every politician, every system” and delay action on the climate crisis, says Prof Aviel Verbruggen, the author of the analysis. The huge profits were inflated by cartels of countries artificially restricting supply.
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The study has yet to be published in an academic journal but three experts at University College London, the London School of Economics and the thinktank Carbon Tracker confirmed the analysis as accurate, with one calling the total a “staggering number”. It appears to be the first long-term assessment of the sector’s total profits, with oil rents providing 86% of the total.
The oil and gas industry has delivered $2.8bn (£2.3bn) a day in pure profit for the last 50 years, a new analysis has revealed.
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