Azerbaijan's gas supply squeeze and the consequences for the "southern corridor"

My paper on Azerbaijan, published this week by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, downloadable here.

Looking back at 1917 from the post-Soviet period

This short paper, published on the LeftEast site, looks at how views of the Russian revolution have changed in the British labour and socialist movements. It was presented at a conference on “Twenty Five Years After the USSR” at the German Historical Institute, Moscow, on 10 June. It was also published here on the OpenLeft site in Russian.

Russia's gas transit across Ukraine after 2019

This Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Working Paper, written jointly with my colleague Katja Yafimava, looks at how Russian gas will be transported to Europe after the current transit contract with Naftogaz Ukrainy expires on 31 December 2019. It can be downloaded from the OIES web site here.

Natural gas: the Russia-Ukraine question

Reverse flow deliveries of gas to Ukraine have not ended Russian imports, but they have created price competition, I argued in this presentation on 14 October at the first Ukraine Gas Forum.

The global drivers of fossil fuel consumption. Is the IPCC looking at them the right way?

I gave this presentation at a seminar on "How fossil fuel consumption shapes the lives communities lead" on Thursday 1 October at UCL. Download here. (This is part of my research on the global history of fossil fuel consumption.)

Ukraine: the end of post-Soviet gas pricing

My article in Oxford Energy Forum, no. 101, downloadable here.

"Cut up Khrushchev for sausages!" A history lesson for the New York Times

My article about the workers' uprising in 1962 in Novocherkassk, southern Russia, on the LeftEast web site here, responds to the ludicrous claim by a New York Times editorial staffer that it was a "Cossack" revolt.

Global fossil fuel consumption, 1950 to the present: seven histories in one

I have just attended the World Society: Planetary Natures conference at Binghamton university in the USA. The theme was the "converging crises" of climate, energy and finance. The notes of my presentation, "Global fossil fuel consumption, 1950 to the present: seven histories in one", are downloadable here. There was a wide range of speakers, including journalists and social movement activists as well as university-based researchers. Among the latter were anthropologists, ethnographers and historians, and others too. Binghamton has always been something of a centre for "world system" historians, and some (although not all) of the attendees work in that tradition. It was a very welcome opportunity to meet and exchange views with other scholars. Conference web pages here.

Scottish miner's book on pit closure fight republished on line

Polmaise: The Fight For A Pit, by John McCormack has been republished on line here. John was the National Union of Mineworkers pit delegate at Polmaise, whose miners were in the forefront of the battle against pit closures in Scotland from 1983, and throughout the national strike of 1984-85. At that time I worked in Scotland as a journalist, and "ghost wrote" the book, which was first published in 1989.

Cancellation of South Stream may signal a shift in Russian gas export policy

A paper published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies today, to which I contributed along with my colleagues Jonathan Stern and Katja Yafimava, asks whether Gazprom's cancellation of the South Stream pipeline is part of a larger shift towards a more commercially logical export policy. We look at how Gazprom will manage its investment options in the face of financial sanctions and ruble devalution.

Questions about Ukrainian energy policy

I participated in a discussion in London yesterday (9 December) on “Is Ukraine ready to face the winter freeze: focus on diversification of energy supplies and embracing energy efficiency”. I made my comments in the form of questions and answers, as follows:

Q. Can Ukraine reduce gas demand further in 2015-20?

A. In the mid 2000s, Ukraine’s gas consumption was 75 bcm/year. It was 50 bcm in 2013 and will be about 42 bcm in 2014. That’s a 40%+ reduction, due to:

■ economic recession (which has reduced industrial demand, and naturally it is hoped that much of this will be restored);

■ high prices which have encouraged diversification to coal;

■ and some energy saving measures, also due to high prices.

Gas demand has already been reduced where it is easy to do so. But, assuming (i) a modest economic recovery, (ii) continued diversification to coal (and other fuels), and (iii) continued energy saving measures, it

Presentation: drivers of global fossil fuel use

Notes and slides from a presentation I did last month at the history department seminar at Sheffield Hallam university, outlining my project on the global history of fossil fuel consumption, have now been posted here NOTES and here SLIDES. And a description of the project is HERE.