Environmental and cultural
geography of the Middle East
Environmental and cultural patterns
– Desert environment
– Mountain ranges
– Major river systems
– Ethno-linguistic groups
– Major languages
– Major religions
– Historical geography
Critical natural resources
Critical thinking
Essay:
“Who gets what from
Middle East oil?”
– Water resources/problems
– Oil reserves/politics
Videos: “The curse of oil” & “Life after oil: the new energy alternatives”
World Desert Regions
Desert: less than 254 mm (10 in) of annual rainfall, evaporation rate exceeds precipitation,
usually a high average temperature, and at night the temperature can drop to near freezing.
Warm air masses created two belts of desert, one along the Tropic of Cancer and the other along
the Tropic of Capricorn. Other deserts result from the effects of ocean currents on landmasses,
where cool air masses carry fog and mist, but little rain, along coastal regions. © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights
Reserved. Encarta, 2007, http://encarta.msn.com/media_461530118_761572480_-1_1/World_Desert_Regions.html
The Sahara, the largest desert in the world, has a total area of more than 9,065,000
sq km, of which some 207,200 sq km consist of partially fertile oases. Source: Encarta Encyclopedia
Late afternoon light in the Ar Rub‘ al Khali (Empty Quarter) desert
http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/pictures/sm_wallpaper/ngs1_576.jpg
Sand storm
Maintainer walks to secure an Iraqi Air Force C-130E Hercules at New Al Muthana Air Base,
Iraq, on Monday, May 8, 2006, during a sand storm. The storm engulfed the Baghdad area and
caused near-zero visibility. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jason Serrit),
http://www.defendamerica.mil/archive/2006-05/20060511pm4.html
Sand storm
?
Desert
Landscapes
The Two Major Tree Crops of the Middle East
The Date Palm and the Olive
“The role of the date in traditional irrigated desert
“The most widespread tree crop in the
agriculture has been even more crucial than that of the
Mediterranean climate lands is, as it has been
olive in Mediterranean agriculture. The date palm
for thousands of years, the olive—hallmark of
(Phoenix dactylifera) is the most familiar and
true Mediterranean conditions (…). With a
historically important plant of the entire North African- very long taproot, as deep as 30 ft./9 m, and a
Middle Eastern-South Asian desert region. Throughout
small, waxy leaf, the evergreen olive tree is
this zone, from Morocco to the Indian subcontinent, it
well adapted to the cool, wet winter and the
provides a staple food, construction material, and fiber
warm, rainless summers. Likewise adapted to
for weaving essential baskets and mats. It is so
the chemical and physical characteristics of
fundamental in the Middle East that it appears on
the Mediterranean soils, the olive requires no
stamps, on currency, on coins, and on Saudi Arabia’s
irrigation and only modest attention to live for
royal emblem. It has been a basic food in desert areas of more than 1,500 years and to produce plentiful
the region for millennia, with the advantage that the tree crops for hundreds of years. The tree bears an
survives the most searing heat and lasts for generations, average 90 lbs/40 kg in alternate years, with
thriving on minimum water in large groves in all oasis
yield varying with soil moisture. Peoples of
areas… The date fruit can be preserved for months,
the Mediterranean Basin, including the North
retaining a high degree of nourishment and a range of
African lands, have for millennia depended
vitamins. The essential role of the date has diminished
upon the olive for both food and oil: Olive oil
since the later 1990s because modern transportation and is the basic oil for cooking and for soap,
trade has [sic] brought both unlimited amounts of food
cosmetics, food preservation, and even
and also refrigeration to even formerly remote desert
greasing wagon wheels” Colbert C. Held,
areas.” Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places,
Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and
Peoples, and Politics, Westview Press, 2006, p. 152
Politics, Westview Press, 2006, p. 148
Camel Festival
Mazayina camel competition attracted more than 2000
camel owners participating with more than 24 thousand
camels
Sheikh Zayed describes Festival as ‘comprehensive’
for heritage enthusiasts in UAE, GCC states.
January 1, 2009
http://www.aldhafrafestival.com/
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=29376
Camel crisis
Modernity, urbanization, motorisation are slowly destroying way of life that has survived for
thousands of years.
The camel has long had a special place in the imagination of the West, from the Greek historian
Herodotus telling a story about Indians using fast-running camels to defeat dog-sized, man-eating
ants that guarded gold, through the Three Magi journeying to Christ’s birth, Lawrence of Arabia and
the desert chic of Camel cigarettes… Last November, under the headline “Town under siege: 6,000
camels to be shot”, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that trains of camels had
invaded the town of Docker, breaking into houses and rooting up water pipes. During Australia’s
worst drought on record, the camels were desperately seeking water. They were once a cultural
oddity (camels were imported in the 1840s to help open up the interior, and then left to run wild) but
have become a public menace. The local government response was to mobilise helicopters to drive
them into the desert, where they would be shot and left to rot. Representatives of the cattle industry
favour the cull, arguing that camels compete with cattle for sparse grazing. Environmentalists argue
for a more humane and productive approach, such as developing an Australian camel industry on a
par with that of cattle. http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=39989
“Scientists in Dubai have created
the world’s first cloned camel,
offering a way to preserve special
strains for racing and milk
production.
The female calf, named Injaz, was
born at 4.30pm on April 8 and is
healthy so far.
Injaz is the result of five years of
work by scientists at the Camel
Reproduction Centre and the
Central Veterinary Research
Laboratory (CVRL) in a project
initiated by Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid, Vice President of the UAE
and Ruler of Dubai.
“This is the first time scientists
have cloned a camel calf,” said Dr
Ulrich Wernery, the scientific
director at CVRL.”
The National, 4/13/2009
, http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090 414/NA TION AL/204 456867/1001
Dubai scientists create
first cloned camel and
call her Injaz
Injaz was born on April 8 [2009]. Courtesy
The Central Veterinary Research Laborator
$2.5 million for a she camel
‫ ماليين درهم ثمنا للناقة حقايق وصاحبها يرفض البيع‬9
Alarab online, 12/21/2011, http://www.alarab.co.uk/index.asp?fname=\2011\12\1219\427.htm&dismode=cx&ts=21/12/2011 11:40:34
‫العاهل االردني الملك‬
‫عبدهللا الثاني يمتطي جمال‬
‫القدس العربي‪ 18 ،‬يناير‬
‫‪2010‬‬
‫‪King‬‬
‫‪Abdullah II‬‬
‫‪of Jordan‬‬
‫‪On‬‬
‫‪Camelback‬‬
Arabian Horse Festival, http://alkhalediah-festival.com/en/Home.aspx
“The origin of the purebred Arabian horse
was the Arabian desert, and all Arabians
ultimately trace their lineage to this source.
European and American breeders exploring
the Middle East in the late 1800's became
captivated with the Arabian's beauty, spirit
and stamina, and were anxious to import
horses back home.”
Arabian Horse Association,
http://www.arabianhorses.org/education/education_bloodlines_overview.asp
Arabian Horse
Wkp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Halterstandingshotarabianone.jpg
Festival
of
Falconry
Emirates
Falconers
Club
http://emiratesupdate.wordpress.com/page/12/
President George W.
Bush holds up a sword as
he poses for a picture
with his host, Bahrain's
King Hamad bin Isa AlKhalifa, during an arrival
ceremony at Sakhir
Palace in the capital
Manama.
NPR, 1/12/2008
Abu Dhabi Crown
Prince Sheik
Mohammed Bin
Zayed Al Nahyan
shows President
Bush a falcon ahead
of a traditional
dinner at his
weekend desert
encampment.
NPR, 1/13/2008
President George W.
Bush holds a falcon
shown to him by
Sheikh Mohammed
Bin Rashid alMaktoum, Vice
President and Prime
Minister of the United
Arab Emirates,
White House,
1/14/2008
Mountain ranges
• Three major mountain ranges
– Atlas (Morocco)
– Taurus (Turkey)
– Zagros (Iran)
• Major sources of water in the region
• Refuge for linguistic and religious
minorities
Three dominant
ethno-linguistic
groups
• The Arabs
• The Iranians
• The Turks
Major Ethnic Groups in Predominantly Muslim Areas
Source: CIA, 1981
Major Middle Eastern Languages
• Arabic
•
“Southern-Central Semitic language spoken in a large area including North Africa, most of the Arabian Peninsula, and other parts of the
Middle East. (See Afro-Asiatic languages.). Arabic is the language of the Qurʾān (or Koran, the sacred book of Islam) and the religious
language of all Muslims. Literary Arabic, usually called Classical Arabic, is essentially the form of the language found in the Qurʾān, with
some modifications necessary for its use in modern times; it is uniform throughout the Arab world. Colloquial Arabic includes numerous
spoken dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible. The chief dialect groups are those of Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and North
Africa.”
• Farsi
•
“Member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian language family; it is the official language of Iran. It is most closely related to Middle
and Old Persian, former languages of the region of Fārs (“Persia”) in southwestern Iran. Modern Persian is thus called Fārsī by native
speakers. Written in Arabic characters, modern Persian also has many Arabic loanwords and an extensive literature.”
• Turkish
•
“The major member of the Turkic language family, which is a subfamily of the Altaic languages. Turkish is spoken in Turkey, Cyprus, and
elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East. With Gagauz, Azerbaijani (sometimes called Azeri), Turkmen, and Khorāsān Turkic, it forms the
southwestern, or Oğuz, branch of the Turkic languages. Modern Turkish is the descendant of Ottoman Turkish and its predecessor, so-called
Old Anatolian Turkish, which was introduced into Anatolia by the Seljuq Turks in the late 11th century ad. Old Turkish gradually absorbed
a great many Arabic and Persian words and even grammatical forms and was written in Arabic script. After the founding of the Turkish
republic in 1923, the Arabic script was replaced by the Latin alphabet (1928).”
Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/
Modern Israeli Hebrew
Is not a direct offspring from Biblical Hebrew
•
Modern Israeli Hebrew (or Zionist Hebrew) is not a “revived” form of Old Hebrew, as is
commonly maintained. Rather it is a derivative of Yiddish, and thus is also a Slavic language.
Since the “linguistic revival” is impossible, Modern Israeli Hebrew cannot be considered a
“revived” form of Biblical Hebrew because it utilizes the syntactic and phonological systems
of Yiddish, with only the vocabulary being of mainly Biblical Hebrew.
•
Therefore Modern Israeli Hebrew and its genetic parent Yiddish must be defined as Slavic
languages. As a relexified form of Yiddish, Modern Israeli Hebrew differs only in its
predominantly Biblical Hebrew vocabulary. Yiddish is the first twice-relexified non-creole
language to be so identified (Wexler 1990; 1993, 241-242; 1996, 7-8; 2002, 4-7).
Wexler P (1990) The Schizoid Nature of Modern Hebrew: A Slavic Language in Search of a Semitic Past. Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz
Wexler P (1993) The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica
Publishers
Wexler P (1996) The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews. New York: University of New York Press
Wexler P (2002) Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars, and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect. Berlin: Mouton
de Gruyter
Yiddish is not a variant of High German
• Yiddish is not a variant of High German, as is commonly
maintained. Rather it is a Slavic language, specifically a
form of Sorbian. Yiddish developed when Jewish speakers
of Sorbian made a partial language shift to High German
vocabulary between the 9th and 12th centuries. In the
relexification of Yiddish only the Slavic lexicon was
replaced by German, whereas the original Sorbian syntactic
and phonological systems were retained (therefore keeping
Yiddish as a member of the Slavic family of languages).
(Wexler 1990; 1993, 241-242; 1996, 7-8; 2002, 4-7).
Wexler P (1990) The Schizoid Nature of Modern Hebrew: A Slavic Language in Search of a Semitic Past. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz
Wexler P (1993) The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Publishers
Wexler P (1996) The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews. New York: University of New York Press
Wexler P (2002) Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars, and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
American University of Beirut Professor of History Kamal Salibi
argues that to read and understand the consonantal Hebrew Bible,
Arabic is better equipped than the academically derived and never
spoken language of Rabbinical Hebrew [let alone Israeli Hebrew]
Professor Salibi considers both Rabbinical Hebrew and Israeli Hebrew as derivative languages,
which “provide no key for unraveling the mysteries of the Biblical Hebrew from which they were
academically derived.” He stresses that the received consonantal Hebrew Bible has been
“consistently mistranslated” and those involved in its interpretation and vocalization between the
sixth and tenth centuries A.D. “did not know Hebrew as a spoken language” because it had
passed out of common usage about 1000 years earlier. Therefore the Hebrew Bible was
essentially redacted, compiled, and in some cases authored by scholars and writers (such as the
Babylonian and Palestinian Masoretes as well as those who produced the Septuagint in
Hellenistic Alexandria) whose day-to-day language was not Biblical Hebrew. Naturally those
writers faced many problems of interpretation and vocalization while they worked hard to avoid
committing the sacrilege of altering the received consonantal spelling of the Hebrew Bible. This
is why the Masoretes often resorted to producing notes advising that some words are “written but
not to be read” (kethiybh we lo’qerey) whereas other words are “to be read but not written” (qerey
we lo’ kethiybh). Salibi concludes that to read and understand the consonantal Hebrew Bible,
Arabic is better equipped than the academically derived and never spoken language of Rabbinical
Hebrew (let alone Israeli Hebrew). Sources: K. Salibi, The Historicity of Biblical Israel: Studies in 1 & 2 Samuel, London:
NABU Publications, 1998, pages 5, 6, and 16. K. Salibi, The Bible Came from Arabia, London: Jonathan Cape, 1985, page 3.
Major Middle Eastern Religions
• Islam
•
“Major world religion founded by Muhammad in Arabia in the early 7th century ad. The Arabic word islam means “surrender”—
specifically, surrender to the will of the one God, called Allah in Arabic. Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion, and its adherents, called
Muslims, regard the Prophet Muhammad as the last and most perfect of God’s messengers, who include Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and
others. The sacred scripture of Islam is the Qurʾān, which contains God’s revelations to Muhammad. The sayings and deeds of the Prophet
recounted in the sunna are also an important source of belief and practice in Islam. The religious obligations of all Muslims are summed up
in the Five Pillars of Islam, which include belief in God and his Prophet and obligations of prayer, charity, pilgrimage, and fasting.... In the
early 21st century, there were more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world.”
• Christianity
•
“Religion stemming from the teachings of Jesus in the 1st century ad. Its sacred scripture is the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Its
principal tenets are that Jesus is the Son of God (the second person of the Holy Trinity), that God’s love for the world is the essential
component of his being, and that Jesus died to redeem humankind. Christianity was originally a movement of Jews who accepted Jesus as
the messiah, but the movement quickly became predominantly Gentile. The early church was shaped by St. Paul and other Christian
missionaries and theologians; it was persecuted under the Roman Empire but supported by Constantine I, the first Christian emperor... In
the early 21st century there were more than two billion adherents of Christianity throughout the world, found on all continents.”
• Judaism
•
“Religious beliefs and practices of the Jews. One of the three great monotheistic world religions, Judaism began as the faith of the ancient
Hebrews, and its sacred text is the Hebrew Bible, particularly the Torah. Fundamental to Judaism is the belief that the people of Israel are
God’s chosen people, who must serve as a light for other nations. God made a covenant first with Abraham and then renewed it with Isaac,
Jacob, and Moses. The worship of Yahweh (God) was centred in Jerusalem from the time of David... In the early 21st century there were
nearly 15 million Jews worldwide.”
Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/
The Four Major Muslim
States/Caliphates
• After the death of Prophet Muhammed (632 A.D.),
the Capital city of the Islamic State and the ruling
Caliphs have changed over the years.
•
•
•
•
The Rashidun caliphs 632-661 (Medina)
The Umeyyad caliphs 661-750 (Damascus)
The Abbasids caliphs 750/762-1258 (Baghdad)
Ottoman caliphs 1453-1924 (Istanbul)
Three British Promises
• The Hussein-McMahan secret correspondence of
1915-1916---promised Arab independence in return
for revolt against the Turks
• The Sykes-Picot secret agreement of 1916--promised to partition the region between Britain and
France after WWI
• The Balfour Declaration of 1917---promised the
creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine
The following are two versions of the infamous/famous Balfour Declaration
through which the British government promised to create a homeland for world
Jewry in Palestine. This British promise was expressed in a letter (dated
November 2, 1917) by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord
Rothschild, a leading member of a Jewish banking family in London. Try (for
yourself) to identify and understand the substantial difference between the two
versions and its implications.
• “His Majesty's Government view
with favour the establishment in
Palestine of a National Home for
the Jewish people, and will use
their best endeavours to facilitate
the achievement of this object, it
being clearly understood that
nothing shall be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine, or the
rights and political status enjoyed
by Jews in any other country.”
• “His Majesty's Government view
with favour the establishment in
Palestine of the National Home for
the Jewish people, and will use
their best endeavours to facilitate
the achievement of this object, it
being clearly understood that
nothing shall be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine, or the
rights and political status enjoyed
by Jews in any other country.”
Water in the Middle East
and North Africa
• Major rivers (Egypt, Iraq)
• Groundwater (Saudi Arabia, Libya)
• Desalination (Gulf states)
Encarta Encyclopedia
The Nile is the longest river in the world, measuring 6,695 km (4,160 mi) from its remotest headstream
in Burundi to its mouth at the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile proper rises at Lake Victoria, and flows
north through much of eastern Africa. Heavy rainfalls cause the Nile to flood each summer, while the
river reaches its lowest volumes between January and May. Source: Encarta, © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights
Reserved. http://encarta.msn.com/media_461519267_761558310_-1_1/Nile_River.html
“Global political events—such
as the partition of Africa, the
collapse of the League of
Nations, the demise of the
British Empire and the birth of
such new states as Uganda,
Kenya and a sovereign Sudan
from Egypt—were all closely
related to British Nile strategies,
and partly a consequence of
these strategies” page 3.
Encarta Encyclopedia
“Two historical processes coincided; news states were
established just as it became technologically feasible to
control the Nile waters on a much larger scale than before,
and in places where it previously had been physically
impossible to tame it” page 7
Terje Tvedt, “About the Importance of Studying the Modern History of the Countries of the Nile Basin
in a Nile Perspective,” In The River Nile in the Post-Colonial Age: Conflict and Cooperation among the
Nile Basin Countries, Edited by Terje Tveldt, I.B. Taurus, London, 2010, pp. 1-11, page 7.
Cooperation and Conflict
over the Nile’s Waters
“Whether the River Nile will be an object of violent conflicts or peaceful
cooperation in the years ahead, the way its water is managed in coming
decades will definitely have worldwide implications. Struggles over the
Nile’s waters has had global political consequences in the past and could
fan existing conflicts in the Horn of Africa and Somalia, threaten the
peace agreements in the Sudan, and influence the power balance in the
middle East. Yet, in terms of jurisdiction and development, the Nile has
been cited as one of the few international river basins with legal
arrangements for sharing the waters, and has at times been portrayed as a
possible model for other international rivers basins”—Terje Tvedt, “About the
Importance of Studying the Modern History of the Countries of the Nile Basin in a Nile Perspective,” In The
River Nile in the Post-Colonial Age: Conflict and Cooperation among the Nile Basin Countries, Edited by
Terje Tveldt, I.B. Taurus, London, 2010, page 1.
Critical ‘Mass Theory’ and the Nile Basin Initiative
•
“According to this way of thinking, what matters is not that everyone benefits, but that there exits a ‘critical
mass’ of highly interested and resourceful people who provide or decide to provide collective benefits for others.
Collective action may rest on an initial event of ‘joint commitment’ to which each participant makes a
contribution. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), formally launched in February 1999 by the Council of Ministers of
Water Affairs of the Nile Basin states, the subsequent establishment of the Nile Basin Secretariat at Entebbe in
Uganda in 2002, and the Nile Basin Discourse (being a network of civil society organizations from the ten
countries of the Nile Basin supported by international donors) may be interpreted in such a way. The NBI is
defined as a ‘partnership initiated and led by the riparian states of the Nile River through the Council of
Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin states’ (Nile Council of Ministers). Its aim is to develop the river ‘in
a cooperative manner, share substantial socioeconomic benefits, and promote regional peace and security.’ The
Nile Basin Initiative was based on what, when considered in the long term, can be seen as a ‘revolutionary’ idea:
that the river was a shared treasure of all the basin states, and on NBI’s operational design about ‘sharing
benefits’ authorized piecemeal execution of selected water control projects that were jointly sanctioned by the
collaborating states. The Subsidiary Action Programs (SAPs) of the NBI should implement joint investment
programmes supported by donors with the aim of ‘contributing to poverty eradication, promotion of economic
development and to reverse environmental degradation in the basin’. In the Nile equatorial lakes sub-region—
comprising Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi—projects such as the Lakes Edward
and Albert Fisheries Pilot Project, and the Mara, Sio-Malaba-Malakisi and Kagera Integrated River Basin
Management, have been developed. Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP) focuses on the Nile and
its tributaries within the Eastern Nile countries of Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sudan, and encompasses the subbasins of Baro/Akobo/Sobat, portions of the White Nile, Abay/Blue Nile, Tekezze/Settit/Atbara, and the Main
Nile. The Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office, based in Addis Ababa, is the implementing arm of ENSAP.
There can be no doubt that as a result of exchange of ideas and propositions in a context of institutionalized
collaboration over time, actors involved in the NBI process have to a certain extent become jointly committed,
for example, to discuss water-sharing agreements or common water projects, and are thereby obliged, so to
speak, to act as if they were a single person.” Terje Tvedt, “Some Conceptual Issues Regarding the Study of Inter-state Relationships in River
Basins,” In The River Nile in the Post-Colonial Age: Conflict and Cooperation among the Nile Basin Countries, Edited by Terje Tveldt, I.B. Taurus, London, 2010, p.
237-246, pages 245-246.
The High Aswan Dam on the Nile
In the 1950s, Egypt decided to build the
High Aswan Dam (completed in 1971),
which has since improved water supply,
electricity, and transportation in Egypt. But it
is said that after its completion the Nile delta
is no longer the most fertile in the world
because most of the silt is now deposited
behind Lake Nasser. The Aswan Dam and
the 1959 agreement with Sudan strengthened
Egypt’s claim over 55.5 billion cubic meters
of Nile water every year.
Encarta Encyclopedia
East Africa seeks more Nile water from Egypt:
Four East African states have signed an agreement to seek more water from the River Nile - a
move strongly opposed by Egypt and Sudan.
Under colonial-era accords, the two countries get 90% of the river's water.
Upstream countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia say it is unfair and want a
new deal but nothing has been agreed in 13 years of talks.
A further three countries were represented at the meeting in Entebbe, Uganda, and may sign up
later… BBC, 5/14/2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8682387.stm
The Euphrates River
Encarta Encyclopedia
The Tigris River
Encarta Encyclopedia
Saudi
Arabia has
some of the
largest
seawater
desalination
plants in the
world
• “Statistics reveal that the six
Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) countries have an
urbanisation level of about
85 percent. As a result, the
United Arab Emirates
French Veolia to build an
(UAE), for example, is the
$805 million desalination
world's second largest
plant in the UAE
consumer of water per
Reuters, Aug 29, 2007
capita after the United
States. Its average daily
Japanese REFILEdomestic consumption is
Mitsubishi Heavy wins
353 litres (80 gallons) per
$1.9 billion Saudi plant
person compared to 425
order
litres in the U.S.”
American GE gets $1
billion in Saudi Arabian
orders
Reuters, Jan 31, 2007
Reuters, Mar 1, 2007
Global Information Network, March 21, 2007
Libya’s Great Man-Made River Project
After weighing up the relative costs of desalination or transporting water from Europe, Libyan
economists decided that the cheapest option was to construct a network of pipelines to transport
water from the desert to the coastal cities, where most Libyans live.
The Libyans estimate that when the Great Man-Made River is completed, they will have spent
almost $20bn. So far, that money has bought 5,000km of pipeline that can transport 6.5 million
cubic metres of water a day from over 1,000 desert wells.
BBC, 18 March 2006 ,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4814988.stm
Phase III is now
[2006] nearing
completion
Israel’s National
Water Carrier
In 1964 the State of Israel completed the National
Water Carrier project which diverts some 60% of
the waters of the Jordan River at Lake Teberias
(Sea of Galilee) to the coastal plain in the west
and the Negev desert in the south.
Out of 21 armed disputes
over water in recent
history, 18 involved Israel
Israel exploits approximately 80% of the
mountain aquifer and the Palestinians do not have
access to the Jordan River system.
BBC, June 16, 2003,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2982730.stm
In 2003, Actual water consumption by
all sectors in Israel was roughly 2,100
MCM, whereas total consumption of
in Palestine was 300 MCM.
A ratio of 7:1
• Mark Zeitun, Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden
Politics of the Palestinian-Israel Water Conflict, London: I.B. Tauris,
2008, page 14
ISRAEL RATIONS PALESTINIANS
TO TRICKLE OF WATER
Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over
the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies…
“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank,
while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies. In Gaza the Israeli blockade has made an already
dire situation worse,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and the OPT [Occupied Palestinian
Territories]. ..
In a new extensive report, Amnesty International revealed the extent to which Israel’s discriminatory water policies and practices are
denying Palestinians their right to access to water. Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, the
main source of underground water in Israel and the OPT, while restricting Palestinian access to a mere 20 per cent. The Mountain
Aquifer is the only source for water for Palestinians in the West Bank, but only one of several for Israel, which also takes for
itself all the water available from the Jordan River. While Palestinian daily water consumption barely reaches 70 litres a day per
person, Israeli daily consumption is more than 300 litres per day, four times as much. In some rural communities Palestinians
survive on barely 20 litres per day, the minimum amount recommended for domestic use in emergency situations. Some 180,000200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from
even collecting rainwater. In contrast, Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank in violation of international law, have intensiveirrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools. Numbering about 450,000, the settlers use as much or more water than the
Palestinian population of some 2.3 million. In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 per cent of the water from its only water resource, the
Coastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Yet, Israel does not allow the transfer of water from the
Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank to Gaza. ….“Over more than 40 years of occupation, restrictions imposed by Israel on the
Palestinians’ access to water have prevented the development of water infrastructure and facilities in the OPT, consequently
denying hundreds of thousand of Palestinians the right to live a normal life, to have adequate food, housing, or health, and to
economic development,” said Donatella Rovera. Israel has appropriated large areas of the water-rich Palestinian land it occupies
and barred Palestinians from accessing them.
Source: Amnesty International, 10/27/2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/israel-rations-palestinians-trickle-water20091027
Israel mulls water imports from
Turkey
Jerusalem Post, 10/19/2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255694842544&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
• Israel has recently begun talks with
Turkey on the possibility of purchasing
water from it, as part of the Water
Authority's attempts to ensure sufficient
reserves in the face of dwindling local
levels.
The making of US Middle East energy policy
Energy Policy Act of 2005
•
•
“(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) on February 1, 1996, the United States and Israel signed the agreement entitled
‘‘Agreement between the Department of Energy of the United States of America and the
Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure of Israel Concerning Energy Cooperation’’ (referred to
in this section as the ‘‘Agreement’’), to establish a framework for collaboration between the
United States and Israel in energy research and development activities;
• (2) the Agreement entered into force in February 2000;
• (3) in February 2005, the Agreement was automatically renewed for 1 additional 5-year
period pursuant to Article X of the Agreement; and
• (4) under the Agreement, the United States and Israel may cooperate in energy research and
development in a variety of alternative and advanced energy sectors.
……..
• SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that energy cooperation between
the Governments of the United States and Israel is mutually beneficial in the
development of energy technology.”
http://www.epa.gov/oust/fedlaws/publ_109-058.pdf
The making of US Middle East energy policy
1. “if the U.S. continues to increase its reliance on foreign sources of oil, our dependence on
OPEC member nations and rogue states (overlapping categories that include the nations
with the largest share of the world’s proven oil reserves) will increase…. The American
Jewish Committee, therefore, urges that the United States set as a primary national goal a
comprehensive energy policy aimed at a substantial reduction in U.S. dependence on
imported oil, with the potential for energy flexibility and near independence in the longer
term.” ------The American Jewish Committee, “Energy Security for America,” May 5,
2003
2. “our goal should be to replace hydrocarbons with carbohydrates.” --------US Senator
Richard G. Lugar, The National Interest, Summer 2006
3. “Let us build on the work we have done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by
20 percent in the next ten years -- thereby cutting our total imports by the equivalent of
three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.” --------- President
Bush’s State of the Union, CNN, 1/23/2007
4. “Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred…. and each
day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries…We
will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” ------- President Obama’s inaugural speech CNN, 1/20/2009
The making of US Middle East energy policy
Excerpts from Obama’s inaugural speech
CNN, 1/20/2009,
http://cnn.site.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Obama%27s+inaugural+speech+-+CNN.com&expire=-1&urlID=33733528&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2009%2FPOLITICS%2F01%2F20%2Fobama.politics%2Findex.html&partnerID=211911
• “That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood.
Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of
violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a
consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of
some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices
and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost;
jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too
costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings
further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen
our adversaries and threaten our planet.”
The making of US Middle East energy policy
Israel bids to end global oil dependency by 2020
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Government plan, to be reviewed Sunday, will make Israel a global center for
alternative energy technology. By Avi Bar-Eli
An interministerial committee charged with finding ways of turning Israel into an
international hub for technology to reduce global oil consumption will present its findings to
the cabinet today.
The government plans to invest NIS 2 billion in the decade-long program from 2011 to 2020,
alongside another estimated NIS 1.8 billion investment by the private sector.
The plan calls for the appointment of a project manager on behalf of the Prime Minister's Office, backing for private initiatives, a bigger budget for research and development and international cooperation. The committee is headed by Prof. Eugene Kandel, head of the National Economic Council; he submitted the report to Prime Minister Benjamin Netany ahu last week. The cabinet is scheduled to discuss it today .
In February, the ministers decided that reducing global oil consumption should be a top
national goal because it serves Israel's strategic and environmental interests and could
be quite lucrative as well. While Israel is only a minuscule player in the global commodities
market, the ministers envisioned the country becoming a global center for technologies that
decrease oil consumption for transportation by boosting initiatives in these fields.
The committee listed 60 Israeli companies that seek to develop oil alternatives, most of which
are start-ups in their first stages of development. Through interviews with entrepreneurs at 35
of those companies, the committee concluded that "even today Israel has an industrial and
knowledge base that puts it at the forefront of countries developing oil alternatives."
However, many of these companies are having trouble getting past the development stage and seeing their technologies through to commercial implementation due to a lack of investors. Also, implementing these kinds of technologies demands a significant investment in phy sical infrastructure before they can be marketable - about $20 million per company on average.
Within the next three y ears, these companies will need an investment of $270 million, the committee found.
In addition, the companies have trouble getting through the regulation necessary to run pilots, the committee found, because "transportation is a relatively traditional field." Transportation companies tend to adopt technology only once it has been tested widely .
Therefore the committee recommends setting up administrative and regulatory infrastructure for the program, which would include an interministerial steering committee headed by Kandel. The program's director, to be appointed through a tender process, would have a panel of experts on regulation and transportation. The experts would help determine which companies deserved government backing.
The Prime Minister's Office has an annual budget of NIS 146 million for staffing the project.
To promote such technologies internationally , the plan calls for an annual international conference at an expense of NIS 4.2 million.
The committee also recommends setting up two funds for investing in this technology . The management and the money for the funds would likely be set up through tenders. The committee expects the funds to invest NIS 2.4 billion over 10 y ears and wants to see them go live by 2011.
The committee would like to offer tax benefits to encourage investment. The Tax Authority objects to this.
Another objection comes from the Infrastructure Ministry , which seeks to manage the project itself and objects to having it m anaged from the Prime Minister's Office, which is responsible for the country 's energy policy . It also objects to the suggestion that it fund part of the project.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/israel-bids-to-end-global-oil-dependency-by-2020-1.314532
The making of US Middle East energy policy
Israel and California cut world's
largest solar energy deal
• Israeli company BrightSource Energy is to build seven new solar energy plants
across California, providing 1,300 megawatts of energy, in the biggest solar
energy deal ever signed.
•
An Israeli company and a Californian one are making solar power history:
Southern California Edison (SCE) and BrightSource Energy from Israel have signed
the world's largest solar energy deal.
Now awaiting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, when the
contracts are fulfilled -- this could happen by as early as 2013 -- the Israeli-CA sun
project will power almost 1 million California homes.
http://www.israel21c.org/environment/israel-and-california-cut-worlds-largest-solarenergy-deal
The making of US Middle East energy policy
BrightSource Energy quietly moves toward IPO in 2011
•
“BrightSource Energy quietly moves toward IPO in 2011
•
Large-scale solar plant developer BrightSource Energy is quietly preparing for an IPO, reports
Dow Jones Venture Wire, citing two people familiar with the company’s plans.
According to the article, the company has hired Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to begin
preparations for a public offering that is likely to happen in 2011. BrightSource probably won’t
chance the choppy cleantech IPO waters this year, the unnamed source says.
A BrightSource IPO has been the source of speculation for awhile now. NextUp Research forecasted
earlier this month that the company could go public within two to three years – but it looks now that it
could happen even sooner.
The company has certainly been building up steam. Its fourth round of equity financing in May netted
$150 million, bringing total equity financing to $330 million to date. BrightSource also recently won a
recommendation for the California Energy Commission’s approval to move forward on a 392-megawatt
development in the Mojave Desert, a big win for the planned solar thermal project that could power
140,000 homes. It also won a huge loan guarantee — worth $1.4 billion — from the Department of
Energy for the project. Update: Brightsource just announced the CEC has given its approval for the
Ivanpah project.
BrightSource’s investors include VantagePoint, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Morgan Stanley, Chevron and
Google.
Tags: IPO, Solar, solar energy
Companies: BrightSource, Chevron, Draper Fisher Jurveston, Goldman Sachs, Google, Morgan Stanley,
NextUp, VantagePoint”---Reuters,9/22/2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS264235741520100922
•
•
•
•
•
•
Israel unveils first
commercial solar
power plant
Marketing
President Clinton:
Highlights BrightSource
solar project
Arava Power's 4.95 megawatt
solar power plant at Kibbutz
Keturah is the first of about
50 photovoltaic power fields
to be built throughout the
southern Negev desert by the
http://www.youtube.com/
end of 2014. Haaretz,
6/5/2011,http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israe
l-unveils-first-commercial-solar-power-plant1.366118
watch?feature=player_em
bedded&v=GcH687hk7xE
Major Factors Influencing
Oil prices
• Inflation
• Dollar value
• Regional tension
• Market forces
• OPEC policies
Dollar Policy: Don't Ask, Don't Tell
• “The dollar's value is connected to Americans'
standard of living. In the United States, the
quality of one's economic life is determined
largely by purchasing power. A weaker dollar
could cut into purchasing power by raising the
cost of imports for which, increasingly, there
are no domestic substitutes. The dollar's decline
is already contributing to higher oil prices. For a
variety of reasons, higher oil prices also tend to
translate into higher food prices.”
Editorial, The New York Times, November 12, 2007
U.S. Primary Energy Consumption by Source and Sector, 2011 (Quadrillion Btu)
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 2011, Tables 1.3, 2.1b-2.1f , 10.3, and 10.4.,
http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pecss_diagram.cfm
U.S. Commitment to Saudi security
• When U.S. President Truman signed the Saudi-Aramco
“fifty-fifty” profit-sharing agreement in late 1950, he wrote
a letter to Saudi King Ibn Saud affirming:
• “I wish to renew to Your Majesty the assurances which
have been made to you several times in the past, that the
United States is interested in the preservation of the
integrity of Saudi Arabia. No threat to your Kingdom
could occur which would not be a matter of immediate
concern to the United States.”[1]…..
•
[1] Quoted in Leonardo Maugeri, The Age of Oil: The
Mythology, History, and Future of the World’s Most
Controversial Resource, Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons
Press, 2006, page 59.
Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
1. Algeria
2. Angola
3. Ecuador
4. Iran
5. Iraq
6. Kuwait
7. Libya
8. Nigeria
9. Qatar
10. Saudi Arabia
11. United Arab Emirates
12. Venezuela
• OPEC's mission is to coordinate
and unify the petroleum policies
of Member Countries and ensure
the stabilization of oil markets in
order to secure an efficient,
economic and regular supply of
petroleum to consumers, a steady
income to producers and a fair
return on capital to those
investing in the petroleum
industry.
Source: OPEC
http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/data_graphs/330.htm
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/er/early_production.cfm
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/er/early_production.cfm
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/er/early_production.cfm
Top U.S. petroleum foreign suppliers
of crude oil and products in 2012
(Annual-Thousand Barrels):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Canada (1,081,385)
Saudi Arabia (497,570)
Mexico (377,350)
Venezuela (348,316)
Russia (174,683)
Iraq (173,317)
Nigeria (161,429)
Colombia (157,966)
U.S. petroleum imports
from OPEC countries:
1,557,591
U.S. petroleum imports
from Non-OPEC countries:
2,320,659
Source: U.S. Energy Information Agency
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_a.htm
U.S. Dependence on Net
Petroleum Imports (%)
1973 average 34.8%
1975 average 35.8
1980 average 37.3
1985 average 27.3
1990 average 42.2
1995 average 44.5
1996 average 46.4
1997 average 49.2
1998 average 51.6
1999 average 50.8
2000 average 52.9
2001 average 55.5
2002 average 53.4
2003 average 56.1
2004 average 58.4
2005 average 60.3
2006 average 59.9
2007 average 58.2
2008 average 57.0
2009 average 51.5
2010 average 49.2
2011 average 44.9
2012 average 39.9
U.S. Petroleum Trade: Overview, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mer/pdf/pages/sec3_7.pdf
U.S. Petroleum Trade: Overview
Year Average
Imports from
Persian Gulf
Thousand
Barrels per Day
Import from
OPEC
Thousand
Barrels per Day
Imports From
Persian Gulf as
Share of Total
Imports (Percent)
2000 Average
2001 Average
2002 Average
2003 Average
2004 Average
2005 Average
2006 Average
2007 Average
2008 Average
2009 Average
2010 Average
2011 Average
2012 Average
2,488
2,761
2,269
2,501
2,493
2,334
2,211
2,163
2,370
1,689
1,711
1,861
2,151
5,203
5,528
4,605
5,162
5,701
5,587
5,517
5,980
5,954
4,776
4,906
4,555
4,256
21.7
23.3
19.7
20.4
19.0
17.0
16.1
16.1
18.4
14.4
14.5
16.2
20.3
Imports From
OPEC as Share
of Total Imports
(Percent)
45.4
46.6
39.9
42.1
43.4
40.7
40.2
44.4
46.1
40.9
41.6
39.6
40.2
From Table 3.3a Petroleum Trade: Overview, http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec3_7.pdf
1.
Who gets what from
Middle
East
oil
Middle East ‘welfare’ states
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Taxes in G7 states (which can match OPEC oil revenues)
War and conflict (some estimates cite the figure of $12 trillion in just 20 years)
Big business contracts
Big oil companies
Petrodollar recycling
Development Funds
Immigrant labor
Inflation
Corruption
(the relatively high per capita income of oil producing
countries compared to other developing countries, their free education and healthcare systems, their little or no
taxation fiscal policy, their big infrastructure projects, and the overall 'rent’ nature of their economies…). Yet the
combined GDP of all Arab states is comparable to the GDP of Italy.
Who gets what from Middle East oil
• Middle oil revenues contributed to funding many wars such as the 7 major
Arab-Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006, and 2008-2009),
the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), the Afghanistan wars (1979-1989 and
2001-present), the Gulf war (1991), and the Iraq war (2003-present):
• A January 2009 study by India’s Strategic Foresight Group estimates
that conflict has cost the Middle East $12 trillion during the last
twenty years. Reuters, 1/23/2009,
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLN69708120090123
• Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington, estimates
that between 1973 and 2002 Israel has cost the United States about
$1.6 trillion. The Christian Science Monitor, 12/9/2002,
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html
• “Estimates vary, but the [Iran-Iraq] war’s total cost, including military
supplies and civilian damages, probably exceeded $500 billion for
each side.” Nathan J. Brown, "Iran-Iraq War," Microsoft® Encarta®
Online Encyclopedia 2008
, http://encarta.msn.com/text_761580640___7/Iran-Iraq_War.html
Who Gets What from Middle East Oil?
• Saudi Arabia has a population of
more than 28.5 million, including an
estimated foreign population of more
than 8 million.
• The foreign population reportedly
includes:
• 1.6 million Indians
• 1.5 million Bangladeshis
• 1.2 million Filipinos
• 1 million Pakistanis
• 1 million Egyptians
• 600,000 Indonesians
• 400,000 Sri Lankans
• 350,000 Nepalese
• 250,000 Palestinians
• 150,000 Lebanese
• 100,000 Eritreans
• 30,000 Americans
• The United Arab Emirates has a
population of 5 million, of whom
4 million are foreigners.
• Kuwait has a population of 3.2
million, of whom 2.2 million are
foreigners.
• Qatar has a population of more
than 1.5 million, of whom 1.3
million are foreigners.
• Oman has a population of 2.6
million, of whom 700,000 are
foreigners.
•
• Bahrain has a population of
1,050,000, of whom 514,500 are
foreigners.
source: U.S. Department of State, 2008
British firm plans 'humane' housing for
Qatar World Cup migrant labourers
…It is estimated that at least another 500,000 migrant labourers will be needed in the eight years running up to the World
Cup to build in excess of £100bn worth of infrastructure and facilities. So far Nepal and India have provided the largest
number of migrant workers, who make up over 90% of the Gulf state's population. The ITUC predicted as many as 4,000
migrant workers could die in Qatar during that period unless conditions are improved.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/21/qatar-world-cup-british-humane-housing-migrant-labourers
Revealed: Qatar's World Cup ‘slaves’
The allegations suggest a chain of exploitation leading from poor Nepalese villages to Qatari leaders. The overall picture is of
one of the richest nations exploiting one of the poorest to get ready for the world's most popular sporting tournament.
"We'd like to leave, but the company won't let us," said one Nepalese migrant employed at Lusail City development, a $45bn
(£28bn) city being built from scratch which will include the 90,000-seater stadium that will host the World Cup final. "I'm
angry about how this company is treating us, but we're helpless. I regret coming here, but what to do? We were compelled to
come just to make a living, but we've had no luck."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves
Qatar 2022 World Cup workers 'treated like
cattle', Amnesty report finds
Fresh fears raised about exploitation after Fifa president declares country 'on right track' over migrant labourers' rights
A damning Amnesty report has raised fresh fears about the exploitation of the migrant workers building the infrastructure for
the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, amid a rising toll of death, disease and misery.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/17/qatar-world-cup-worker-amnesty-report
The graph above illustrates the inter-country variations in the price of one litre of oil across G7 countries during 2011. It is important to
note that these price variations are not due to differences in underlying crude oil prices (shown in brown) but to the widely varying
levels of taxes (shown in red) imposed by major oil consuming nations. These can range from relatively modest levels - like in the
USA and Canada - to very high levels in Europe. In the UK, for example, the government in 2011 earned about 59% (about US$ 1.30)
of the price charged for every litre of pump fuel sold to consumers. Oil producing countries (including OPEC), meanwhile, earned only
around 32% (US$ 0.71) of the total pump fuel price. OPEC, http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/data_graphs/333.htm
Recycling Petrodollars
Current Issues in Economic and Finance
Volume 12, Number 9 December 2006
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK
www. n e w y o r k f e d . o r g / r e s e a r c h / c u r r e n t _ i s s u e s
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci12-9.pdf
• In recent years, oil-exporting countries have
experienced windfall gains with the rise in the price of
oil. A look at how oil exporters “recycle” their revenues
reveals that roughly half of the petrodollar windfall has
gone to purchase foreign goods, especially from Europe
and China, while the remainder has been invested in
foreign assets. Although it is difficult to determine
where the funds are first invested, the evidence suggests
that the bulk are ending up, directly or indirectly, in the
United States.
Who gets what from Middle East oil
Inflation
•$42 (the price of 1 barrel
of oil) in 1980 have the
same buying power as
$118 in 2013 (see the price
of 1 barrel of oil today)
Trillions of dollars worth of oil
found in Australian outback
Up to 233 billion barrels of oil has been discovered in the Australian outback that could
be worth trillions of dollars, in a find that could turn the region into a new Saudi Arabia
The discovery in central Australia was reported by Linc Energy to the stock exchange and was based on two
consultants reports, though it is not yet known how commercially viable it will be to access the oil.
The reports estimated the company’s 16 million acres of land in the Arckaringa Basin in South Australia
contain between 133 billion and 233 billion barrels of shale oil trapped in the region’s rocks.
It is likely however that just 3.5 billion barrels, worth almost $359 billion (£227 billion) at today’s oil price,
will be able to be recovered.
The find was likened to the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale oil projects in the US, which have resulted in
massive outflows and have led to predictions that the US could overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest
oil producer as soon as this year.
Peter Bond, Linc Energy’s chief executive, said the find could transform the world’s oil industry but noted
that it would cost about £200 million to enable production in the area.
Shale oil is more costly to extract than conventional crude oil and involves the controversial process of
hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking.
This involves introducing cracks in rock formations by forcing through a mixture of water, sand at chemicals
at high pressure.
“If you took the 233 billion, well, you’re talking Saudi Arabia numbers,” Mr Bond told ABC News.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/9822955/Trillions-of-dollars-worth-of-oil-found-in-Australian-outback.html
Video: The curse of oil
• This program offers a global history of the oil industry and
the issues intertwined with it, from early-20th-century
prospecting in South America and the Middle East to war in
Iraq. The origins and significance of OPEC figure
prominently in the narrative, as do several historic and
violent conflicts revolving around controlling sources or
flow of oil: labor strikes in Latin America, Nasser's seizure
of the Suez Canal, the Iran-Iraq war, and other pivotal
events. Revealing interviews feature, among others, former
OPEC leader Sheikh Ahmed Yamani and former U.S.
ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Akins--who minces no
words and calls oil a curse.
•
The curse of oil Jean-Pierre Beaurenaut; Yves Billon; Didier Couëdic 2006, ©2003
English Visual Material: Videorecording: DVD video 1 videodisc (52 min.) : sd., col. with
b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 in. Princeton, NJ : Films for the Humanities & Sciences
Video
Life after oil:
The new energy alternatives
• This program illustrates ways we can
solve our dependence on fossil fuels
through the use of alternative energy
sources including wind power, fuel cells,
hydrogen fuel, ethanol, biomass and solar
power.
Ron Meyer; James M Roberts; Erick Avari, Life after oil: the new energy alternatives,
English Visual Material: Videorecording: DVD video 1 videodisc (30 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4
in. New York, NY : Ambrose Video, 2008