How an Energy Expert Triggered Vladimir Putin With One Word - Bloomberg
Daniel Yergin was at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2013 when he got a daunting request: Could he pose the first question from the audience to Vladimir Putin?
“I started to ask a question, I mentioned the word ‘shale,’” he recalls, referring to a once-unconventional source of oil and natural gas that by then was flowing freely in the U.S. due to advances in production techniques. “And he started shouting at me, saying shale’s barbaric.”
Yergin, the vice chairman of S&P Global, discussed the incident on the latest episode of the “What Goes Up” podcast, along with other insights from his book “The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations.” US shale oil and gas have had a much bigger impact on geopolitics than people recognize, Yergin says. It has posed a threat to Putin in multiple ways, especially as US natural gas would compete with Russia’s in Europe.
Below are lightly edited and condensed highlights of the conversation. Click here to listen to the whole podcast, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Iran to revive gas pipeline project to Oman, IRNA reports | Reuters
Iran's oil minister has agreed to revive a long-stalled project to lay an undersea pipeline to carry gas to Oman, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday.
Iran sits on one of the world's largest gas reserves, which Oman has been eyeing as it hopes to feed energy-intensive industries and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants.
IRNA said the agreement to revive the project was reached during a trip to Oman by Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji ahead of an official visit to the Gulf Arab state by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday.
In 2013, the two countries signed a deal, valued at $60 billion over 25 years, for Iran to supply gas to Oman through an undersea pipeline. In 2016, the two countries renewed efforts to implement the project, and Iran said in 2017 that it had agreed with Oman to change the route of the planned pipeline to avoid waters controlled by the United Arab Emirates.
The project was subsequently delayed by price disagreements and U.S. pressure on Oman to find other suppliers before the United States withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran, and reimposed sanctions in 2018.
Tehran and Washington have held indirect talks in Vienna over the past year to revive the nuclear agreement which led to the lifting of sanctions, but the negotiations have stalled.
