Political Turmoil and Energy Security

One of the headlines I saw this morning as I was checking my email was one from the Wall Street Journal titled "Sanctions Over Ukraine put Exxon at Risk". Now I am very bad at being able to keep foreign political issues straight, but I did some further reading and this is the gist of what I understand to be the current Ukraine crisis. Russia annexed a peninsula shaped part of Ukraine called Crimea after the Ukrainian Revolution, and ever since there has been unrest among different political affiliations in Crimea and Ukraine and the Russian government. To be honest after reading it for an hour, I know there are more issues involved here, such as issues with Syria and ISIS, but I can't seem to make sense of what is going on. However, for the points I want to make in this post I don't need to explain much.

One point I do want to make is that Ukraine's energy comes mostly from Russia through pipelines, and Ukraine has accused Russia of using this as political leverage over them. This is an example of underlying energy politics that plays into other political turmoil that I don't much hear about in the news... but then again that might just be me being late in joining the 'drinking in news with my coffee' club. 

The headline mentioned above is about how yesterday, Thursday September 11, 2014, President Obama announced that he will be supporting tougher economic sanctions on Russia to "protest what the US describes as Russia's illegal actions in Ukraine". These economic sanctions now interfere with a contract Russia signed 2 years ago with Exxon, a contract that was hoped to bring ties between US and Russia closer. Now it just puts Exxon in a sticky situation because they are being seen as buddy-buddy with Russia, just as Russia is being seen as making the Ukraine crisis worse by being uncooperative for the US. But the real issue for Exxon is that their chances of tapping the crude oil from the contract with Russia is looking slim. 

Being an environmentalist, this sounds like a blessing to me. Though I know I have high hopes, perhaps the postponement of Exxon being able to drill into Russia's crude will give Russia enough time to consider changing their fossil fuel energy policies. The Russian Federation is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) afterall, and they are meeting this November and at a Climate Summit in Paris in June 2015. 

What I keep wondering is how long it is going to take countries to wake up and realize that they should take these climate summits seriously. According to 350.org's 'Do The Math', we can only allow 565 of the 2,795 gigatons of current oil reserves to burn before our climate will be pushed over the 2 degree Celsius increase that will cause major changes to the way we live. How can governments and the oil industry keep turning a blind eye while claiming to be meeting to solve the same issue? Not to mention, fossil fuel sources can be stolen or hijacked and be sold to fund corrupt groups like what ISIS is currently doing. Renewable energy sources that are decentralized from the government and are more in the hands of the communities and people can't really be hijacked like that, and in that sense is a less risky investment. 

I am eager to see the effect the People's Climate March has on leaders and their future discussions at climate summits. Hopefully leaders won't be sidetracked by what's going on with Ukraine and with ISIS, but instead take it into account and think over how issues like these tie in to the future of energy security.

Word Count: 627

Sources:

• Baker, G. (2014). The 10-Point: Gerard Baker on Obama’s Allies, Exxon's Russian Oil Deal, UPS's Strategy and More - WSJ. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2014, from http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-10-point-gerard-baker-on-obamas-allies-exxons-russian-oil-deal-upss-strategy-and-more-1410519180?tesla=y
• BBC News - Ukraine crisis: Timeline. (2014, September 9). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26248275
• Do the Math - Because We > Fossil Fuels. Retrieved September 12, 2014, from http://math.350.org/
• Flynn, A. (2014, September 12). Energy Journal: ExxonMobil’s Tricky Position in Russia - MoneyBeat - WSJ. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/09/12/energy-journal-exxonmobils-tricky-position-in-russia/?KEYWORDS=oil+exxon