Up here, the shouting fades. Below, the deckhands brawl over semantics and empty barrels. But from the rigging, the shape of things comes into focus — slow collapse, fast delusion, and the absurd elegance of it all.
This is where I map the mess from altitude. Big arcs. Broken patterns. Unwelcome truths seen before impact. No rah-rah optimism, no collapse-porn doomerism. Just the sharp wind, a good scope, and the knowledge that sometimes the best you can do is spot the rocks early and yell loud enough for someone below to hear.
Anyone studying the history of humankind from its beginnings to this very day will reach a point where he wonders what makes humans tick. Many times, a collectivity, a state, a people reaches a point of relative wealth and well-being.…
Every business person – secretly – dreams of controlling a monopoly. They want everyone to beat a path to their respective doors to buy whatever is on offer. For the price and on the conditions they decide. It’s a natural…
The year is 2019 A.D. The energy world is entirely occupied by bureaucratic representative bodies doing the lobbying work on their behalf. Well, not entirely. One small organization of indomitable energy professionals still holds out against the incumbents. And life…
In October 1973, the member countries of the Organisation of Arab Oil Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. A coalition of Arab countries had attacked the state of Israel. After first advances were beaten back by the much smaller Israeli…
What comes to mind when thinking of ancient civilizations? Yes, that’s right. It’s the Romans or classical Greece with its many city-states. But what was ancient to the old Romans? What do they see when they look far back? The…
Oscar Wilde once observed that there are two tragedies in life: Developers of new, unsanctioned US-based LNG terminal projects are in a bind. And I don’t blame you if you harbor some concern for them. The US Gulf Coast and…
15 years ago, North America was any LNG seller’s wet dream. It was the biggest payday ever. North American gas production was going down. The market needed Natural gas like a breath of fresh air. A huge number of LNG…
Anyone following the current flurry of activity in the Asian LNG marketplace must be startled. The casual LNG observer might have the impression that it’s some contractual clauses that are at the heart of the problem. And that their modification…
About two years ago I was deeply involved in some LPG project concepts for Africa. Already then I had pointed out to my clients that I would go for LNG straight. But they had their reasons to stick with LPG…
Yeah, I know what you are going to say when reading the title. Now he has gone completely nuts. Russia has the biggest gas reserves on this planet. How on earth would imported US LNG ever make sense? For the…