The petroleum challenge. Present day questions about oil and gas

Will the 21. century be the petroleum challenge century? The petroleum problem is no longer the affair of experts and journalists, it challenges also governments and consumers in pressing terms. If there is today a petroleum problem, there is no oil or gas shortage for the moment. The cumulated oil and gas reserves would allow to face the demand of the century, with the condition that investments in exploration, field development, production, and back-end of oil and gas industries will be done in time. This book, written by specialists of energy economics and geopolitics shows up some of the key questions of our energy future. In particular, it invites us to never forget the basic heavy trends of the hydrocarbons sector in order to never be trapped by superficial extrapolations of short term phenomena. Content: heavy trend of oil prices at the 2020 prospects, natural gas take over?; oil and gas geopolitics: enough of hydrocarbons for the 21. century; Russia and Caspian sea oil and gas weight; China: a new strategic actor of the energy scene; influence of 'futures' market, of speculation, and of stocks on hydrocarbon prices; which future for LNG?; natural gas in the USA: towards a new foreign dependence. (J.S.)