Panel Kleinman Center Event

The World Today: Oil Markets and Geopolitics of Energy

Tuesday, November 29, 2022 | 4:00PM - 5:00PM
Hybrid Event

Speakers

Angela Pachon
Research Director, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy
Robert Vitalis
Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Benjamin L. Schmitt
Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Project Development Scientist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Moderator

Michael Weisberg
Senior Faculty Fellow and Director of Post-graduate Programs, Perry World House

Location

Perry World House
3803 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104

This live event is also available on Zoom. 

An expert panel explores how countries manage geopolitical relations amid an energy crisis.

Sponsor

Event Summary

Pandemic-related policies and supply chain disruptions, followed by Russia’s war in Ukraine, have sent energy prices skyrocketing, and a global game of energy chess has ensued. Sanctions against Russia and growing energy demand after the economic slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in a European energy crisis, exacerbated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) October resolution to cut oil production to “stem a tide of volatility in energy prices” and keep prices high.

Beyond the oil and gas shortages, the impact on prices affects not just international relations between countries but also their domestic affairs. Major economic powers like Britain and the US are seeing their elections impacted and their efforts to fight climate change derailed. Globally, discontent and unrest—driven partly by energy prices—are rising.

This edition of The World Today will examine the politics of global energy pricing. How should countries respond to volatile and rising energy prices and associated inflation? How can they protect their domestic priorities? How will countries manage geopolitical relations amid an energy crisis?

speaker

Angela Pachon

Special Advisor
Angela Pachon is a special advisor the Kleinman Center and was previously the Center’s research director. She advises on the research agenda, research grants and the visitor scholar programs, as well as developing scholarship and research collaborations.
speaker

Robert Vitalis

Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Robert Vitalis is a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, and former director of the Penn Middle East Center. His current research focuses on the rise of the militant right in strategic studies in the United States.
speaker

Benjamin L. Schmitt

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Benjamin L. Schmitt is a postdoctoral research fellow and project development scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where he focuses on the development of instrumentation and infrastructure for next-generation Antarctic experimental cosmology facilities at the South Pole.
moderator

Michael Weisberg

Senior Faculty Fellow and Director of Post-Graduate Programs, Perry World House
Michael Weisberg is senior faculty fellow and director of post-graduate programs at Perry World House, as well as Bess W. Heyman President’s Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania.