To many, oil markets and their linkages to a whole spectrum of events remain something of a mystery. Unfortunately, most of the easily obtained information on oil is deeply flawed. Whole web-conspiracy sites depict ruthless insiders and reckless dictators manipulating energy markets at will. The 30 essays in this volume, written by the leading experts in the field, attempt to set the record straight. While their assessments may lack the sensationalism of many popular pundits, serious readers will find their insights invaluable in the years to come in providing a framework for understanding many of the events of the day. The five sections: Politics of Oil Supply, Political Responses, Regional Dimensions, Country Case Studies and Key Issues for the Future give a comprehensive overview of the politics of oil world-wide.

Since its modest beginning in the 1970s, the academic and research focus on energy has grown substantially and energy has established itself as an independent, interdisciplinary subject area. It attracts attention from people in a range of different fields including engineers, scientists, geologists, environmentalists, bankers, investors, policy makers and politicians. Energy Economics introduces the basic concepts of energy economics and explains how simple economic tools can be used to analyse contemporary energy issues. Energy Economics is organised into six parts that give the reader a thorough grounding in various key aspects of the subject: basic demand-related concepts and ideas used in energy economics; supply-side economics; energy markets, with specific emphasis on oil, gas and coal; the application of simple economic principles in analysing contemporary energy issues; environmental aspects of energy use; and regulatory and governance issues. Energy Economics is an easily accessible reference book for students of energy economics at the postgraduate level, as well as for a wider interdisciplinary audience. It provides readers with the skills required to understand and analyse complex energy issues from an economic perspective.

How oil volatility is affecting the global political scene, and where the oil market is heading The world is rapidly moving towards an oil environment defined by volatility. The Vega Factor: Oil Volatility and the Next Global Crisis takes an in-depth look at the most important topics in the industry, including strategic risk, why traditional pricing mechanisms will no longer govern the market, and how the current government approaches have only worsened an already bad situation. Details the industry's players, including companies, traders, and governments Describes the priorities that will need to be revised, and the policies needed to achieve stability Explains how today's oil market is fundamentally different from the pre-crisis market Oil prices affect everyone. The Vega Factor explains the new international oil environment of increasing consolidation and decreasing competition, and reveals how consumers and investors can navigate price volatility and new government policies.

Cars are essential in modern Western societies. Some even say that our modern lifestyles would have been impossible without cars. The dependency of Western societies on our cars is a unique situation in history, but does not get much attention; car use is seen as just a normal situation. The population at large knows the risks, knows the disadvantages, experiences the advantages and keeps driving. Using data from Western Europe, this book examines three key themes: frequent car use, car dependence, and the future of passenger car mobility in societies. In conclusion, in modern Western risk societies, more attention needs to be paid to car dependence, its driving forces, its advantages, its problems and challenges for the future.

The North Atlantic (NORA) region is a transnational area comprising the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, and the coastal counties of Norway. This review makes a series of recommendations for strengthening co-operation across the region.

The COVID-19 pandemic has, with alarming speed, dealt a heavy blow to an already-weak global economy, which is expected to slide into its deepest recession since the second world war, despite unprecedented policy support. The global recession would be deeper if countries take longer to bring the pandemic under control, if financial stress triggers defaults, or if there are protracted effects on households and firms. Economic disruptions are likely to be more severe and protracted in emerging market and developing economies with larger domestic outbreaks and weaker medical care systems; greater exposure to international spillovers through trade, tourism, and commodity and financial markets; weaker macroeconomic frameworks; and more pervasive informality and poverty. Beyond the current steep economic contraction, the pandemic is likely to leave lasting scars on the global economy by undermining consumer and investor confidence, human capital, and global value chains. Being mostly a reflection of the recent plunge in global energy demand, low oil prices are unlikely to provide much of a boost to global growth in the near term. While policymakers' immediate priorities are to address the health crisis and moderate the short-term economic losses, the likely long-term consequences of the pandemic highlight the need to forcefully undertake comprehensive reform programs to improve the fundamental drivers of economic growth, once the crisis abates. Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies, on a semiannual basis (in January and June). The January edition includes in-depth analyses of topical policy challenges faced by these economies, while the June edition contains shorter analytical pieces.

The conferences on ‘Applications for Computers and Operations Research in the Minerals Industry’ (APCOM) initially focused on the optimization of geostatistics and resource estimation. Several standard methods used in these fields were presented in the early days of APCOM. While geostatistics remains an important part, information technology has emerged, and nowadays APCOM not only focuses on geostatistics and resource estimation, but has broadened its horizon to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the mineral industry. Mining Goes Digital is a collection of 90 high quality, peer reviewed papers covering recent ICT-related developments in: - Geostatistics and Resource Estimation - Mine Planning - Scheduling and Dispatch - Mine Safety and Mine Operation - Internet of Things, Robotics - Emerging Technologies - Synergies from other industries - General aspects of Digital Transformation in Mining Mining Goes Digital will be of interest to professionals and academics involved or interested in the above-mentioned areas.