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"A near-total embargo on Russian oil comes into force on Dec. 5 in the European Union. E.U. insurers and tankers - which comprise half the global fleet - would no longer be allowed to offer their services to transport Russian oil. It would not apply to buyers of Russian oil, like China and India, if they ship and insure the cargoes with companies from countries outside of the group imposing the cap."

Indigenous people in Guatemala are disputing with palm oil companies over the land used for plantations. The State has not been able to properly address these tensions, and the people live in fear of police operations (evictions and murders).

Julian had already shared this article, but I think it's very relevant to what we've learned recently; economic forces are clashing with indigenous rights to land. The Guatemalan government is forced to choose, and they have chosen to protect businesses at the cost of the environment.

Indigenous People have been disputing and fighting a Guatemalan company that's planting oil palm on their traditional lands. There have been multiple police arrests/killings.

Norwegians voted in a parliamentary election on September 12th-13th, with growing economic inequality, climate change, and oil dominating the political issues. The Labour Party candidate, Jonas Gahr Stoere, is leading in polls, expected to beat incumbent conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Climate change has surfaced as a key issue among voters, leading an increasing number of seats to go to members of parties that would curtail Norway's oil and gas drilling, a major source of jobs for the country. Though Stoere may become reliant on left-leaning parties to claim a majority in parliament, the Labour Party candidate has rejected ultimatums over oil, citing major job loss, and instead promised to cut the countries carbon emissions.

Interesting to see Norway's political shift and hopeful class shift with new parliament leaders.

Good job finding a non-American source, Ershai. . .the Irish Times! "the Labour Party candidate has rejected ultimatums over oil, citing major job loss, and instead promised to cut the countries carbon emissions." , , , how? Too bad that in this case, labor and environmentalism seem to be political opponents.

"http://youtu.be/Fj8ZkoL-_wA"  Solazyme--one of the solutions to oil; oil from algae: flexible, scalable, affordable. . . 

The World Bank is raising its 2017 forecast for crude oil prices to $55 per barrel from $53 per barrel as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) prepare to limit production after a long period of unrestrained output. This isn't that significant or interesting in itself, but I'm curious about what it means for a lot of foreign policy, particularly for the US in the middle east.

Three years ago, oil was selling at $100+/BBL. I wonder when the price will rise again--I bet before 2020. That changes everything.

Check this out! So topical!

I think that is important to look at news from all over the world, and we have not been looking at latin america hardly at all in class. This article provides a snippet of what is going on in Brazil with corruption, and the article also gives a peek into the world of oil outside of the middle east.

As the article mentions, the Kurds are considered the largest ethnic group without a homeland. For the Kurds to finally get their own country would be momentous for them, but many external forces are opposing the vote for secession. Considering the fragility of the Middle East right now, I am very intrigued by this vote in Iraq and what the repercussions could be. 

What seems to be long awaited independence for the Kurds from Iraq after Saddam Hussein's atrocities is in trouble because of external worries. Many countries fear a split in Iraq could result in a civil war. In addition, the independent Kurdish state is 20 billion dollars in debt. However, a referendum similar to Brexit will be held soon. The result will not be recognized by the capital Baghdad.

I wonder what the discussion of the rise of other oil states has been like in the context of negotiations for the creation of an independent Kurdish state with Kurkuk's oil resources. Especially with the large number of other new governments formed that grew to power with stakes in the oil industry but ended with large amounts of corruption and class divide, I'm curious to know how the Kurds that have been involved in negotiations plan to avoid these pitfalls.

The UK is facing a gas shortage which has lead to long lines and panic buying. What's fascinating is that it isn't primarily caused by a lack of oil but a lack of drivers to transport the oil. The government has offered 5000 three-month visas for foreign drivers

It seems like Brexit has made all the problems in the UK worse; this story talks about how there would be an issue without Brexit, but Brexit has made it into a bigger crisis.

Yes to your comment, David. What a terrible decision Braxit was!

Doesn't Venezuela already have tons of oil?

When I see a developing nation with an economy that is based almost entirely off of the oil industry, that is a red flag. Oil is an extremely volatile market, and it will continue to be as altrernative forms of energy are sought out and the demand for oil decreases. You can see even today that an oil-based economy has links to many failed states or authoritative governments, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Venezuela, and Iraq. This point should be especially concerning for those in Angola looking forward at their economy's future. I would like to learn more about what the government and its people hope to do to adapt to the rapidly changing world.

We'll look at the dilemma of "resource trap countries" later in this course. The basic problem is that the government is accountable (effectively) to the owners of the resource extraction process, which usually are multinational corporations. So what the majority of the population wants and needs is immaterial.

In protest at the lack of government assistance following an oil spill in the region, indigenous people in Peru's Amazon region detained a group of tourists from both Peru and abroad. Four decades ago, Petroperu, a state-owned company, constructed the 800 km Norperuano pipeline to move  oil from the Amazon region to Piura on the coast. Petroperu claims that the spill was caused by a purposeful 21 cm pipeline cut.

This is video evidence on the toxic pollution caused by Texaco, bought by Chevron, which now refuses to take responsibility to clean it up. A family friend used to be a geologist and work examining soil quality. The company she worked at got most of their business from (I think) Chevron. Chevron (or some other company) would finish with well sites and then neglect to clean them up/ make them safe. When environmental agencies requested that Chevron examine and clean up their left over sites, Chevron made our friend's company file a report saying that they were "monitoring" the site to see what happens. Basically, instead of working to help the environment, they were helping a big petroleum company squirm out of taking responsibility. She eventually quit her job because 1) it wasn't what she had hoped it would be, and 2) there was nothing to do all day, since one of their only jobs was to report that sites were being "monitored" and meanwhile do nothing. NOTE: take this story with a grain of salt, because I don't remember the conversation perfectly, nor do I know the details of her job, the company, the situation, etc... this is just my general recollection.

Yeah I sort of feel ignorant right now because i honestly had no idea that that was going on. I am shocked at how blatant that is. When i first saw the oil on the ground i was like wow that horrible but then i was even further horrified with i realized that it was so blatant they even put a pipe connecting it to the rest of the forest for drainage purposes. It is unbelievable what huge corporations do to the world and make a huge profit by polluting someone else's backyard. :( awesome video though Heather. Thank you for educating me

Last year Latino Club went to see "Crude" (Heather, I think you went too) and it only built off of what you see in this video here. The rivers that he was saying would get contaminated are used by different villages and many people developed cancer and other health problems from the oil in their water. It's appalling what Chevron did and, as you all said, how few people know about it.

ISIS makes its fortune by selling oil from seized territory to its enemies, including the Syrian government it has vowed to topple and to Kurds in Iraq, a U.S. official said Thursday. The official, Undersecretary David Cohen of the Treasury Department, is in charge of cracking down on ISIS finances.

Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman, is accused in the U.S. of siphoning millions from programs intended to help the needy in Venezuela.

What if you could replace the petroleum molecules that we use in fuel, foods and so many other products with a biotechnology substitute made from algae? Harrison Dillon, co-founder of Solazyme, gives the talk of his life, one day before his company delivered 150,000 gallons of algae-derived Soladiesel® fuel to the U.S. Navy.