Back to Course Homepage: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil
Syllabus: The Global
Oil System and the
The
Instructor: Thomas W.
O’Donnell http://www.umich.edu/~twod/courses
3 Credits (junior, senior or grad standing
required).
Tues-Thurs
4- 5:30, Rm. 126 East Quad (RC)
Cross
listed as:
-
-
Residential
College Social Science, RCSSci461.001
(Senior Seminar)
-
Geological
Sciences, GEOSCI496.001
I. Guest Speakers, Videos,
|
|
Speaker |
Topic |
Date |
|
1. |
Prof.
Michael Klare http://pawss.hampshire.edu/klare/
Five
College Professor of Peace
and World Security Studies, based at Hampshire
College |
Discussion
of his books: Resource Wars, & Blood & Oil. (Video
Conference) |
Thursday,
27October |
|
2. |
Prof. Tim
Mitchell http://www.nyu.edu/fas/Faculty/MitchellTimothy.html
|
|
Thursday, 10November |
|
3. |
Prof.
Jean-Francois Seznec http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/newsletter2004/saudi-relations-interest-10-08.html and http://cero.columbia.edu/1370/ |
Political-economy of the (Video Conference) |
Thursday, 17November |
|
4. |
VIDEO:
Daniel Yergin interview, CNN, 2004 |
Oil markets |
T.B.A. |
|
5. |
VIDEO: Prof.
Stephen Pelletiere Historian;
chief CIA political analyst of 1980-89 Iran-Iraq War, professor at US Army War College 2000-02 Author of
books on Iran-Iraq (see text readings below) |
|
T.B.A. |
|
6. |
VIDEO:
2005 Left Forum; |
Video of:
Three presentations and Q&A with audience |
T.B.A. |
2. SYLLABUS:
WEEK 1
1:
Tuesday 06sep05 - Introduction to course.
Topic: Outline of course structure
Topic: Overview of course – Presentation: “Global Oil: Data
on resources, technology and
Topic: Set up student current-events and research groups;
blogs
Topic: Introduction to online resources: EIA, IEA, CIA.
2:
Thursday 08sep05
Topic: Petrogeology and resource
distribution | Origins of oil, conditions
for liquid oil deposits
Read: [Deffeyes01] Chapters 1 & 2: Overview and Origin
of Oil, pp. 1-39.
Read: [Seabrook02] The
WEEK 2
3:
Tuesday 13sep05
Topic: Petrogeology
and resource distribution
| Origins of oil, conditions for liquid
oil deposits, cont’d.
Read: [Deffeyes01] Chapter 3: Oil Reservoirs and Oil Traps,
pp. 40-69.
Topic: Clinton and Caspian; pre-positioning of forces in Gulf
region; bombing of
Read: [Klare02]
Introduction; Chapter 1 - Wealth, Resources, and Power: The Changing
Parameters of Global Security pp. ix-26.
Read: [Klare02]
Chapter 2 - Oil, Geography, and War: The Competitive Pursuit of
Petroleum Plenty, pp. 27-50.
Topic: Transportation & Energy Infrastructure:
Agriculture and oil
Read: [Manning04] The Oil We Eat, Richard Manning
, Harper’s Magazine,
4:
Wednesday
Thursday 15sep05
Topic:
Read: [Klare02]
Chapter 3 - Oil Conflict in the
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The traffic problem,
congestion
Read: [Budiansky00] The Physics of Gridlock,
Atlantic Monthly, Stephen Budiansky,
WEEK 3
5:
Tuesday 20sep05
Topic: Petrogeology and resource
distribution | Amount, distribution of
liquid deposits; Hubbert’s Peak
Read: [Deffeyes01] Chapter 4: Finding It, pp. 70-112.
Topic: Clinton and Caspian; US-Russian competition
Read: [Klare02]
Chapter 4 - Energy Conflict in the
(Note:
Skip [Klare02] Chapter 5 - "Oil Wars in the South China Sea," pp.
109-138; also skip Chapters 6-8 on water)
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The Information
Revolution, oil and gas exploration
Read: [Rauch01] The New Old Economy: Oil, Computers and the Reinvention of the
Earth, The Atlantic Monthly (in three parts), Jonathan Rauch, January
2001. http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/010100_atlantic_rauch01_new_old_economy.pdf
.
6:
Thursday 22sep05
Topic: Theory of “resource wars”
Read: [Klare02] Chapter 9 - The New Geography of Conflict;
Appendix: Territorial Disputes in Areas Containing Oil and/or Natural Gas. pp. 213-232.
(End of book)
NOTE:
Outline of [Yergin92]: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/yergin_prize_outline.html
Topic: Japanese (and German) oil problems in WWII
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 18:
“
Read: [Yergin92]
Chapter 23: “’Old Mossy’ and the struggle for
Topic: IEA Data on Global Oil Resources, Reserves; Official
Projections
Read: {NOTE: “Executive Summary” pp. 25-36, and page through
the first half (1st file) of this document to become familiar with it.} [IEA02a] IEA World Energy Outlook 2002, IEA,
Paris. See: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/iea/iea_2002_reports/
.
WEEK 4
7:
Tuesday 27sep05
Topic: “Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of
America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum”
Read: [Klare05] “Preface” and Chapter 1 - “The Dependency
Dilemma: Imported Oil and National Security,” pp. xi-25.
NOTE:
Outline of [Yergin92]: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/yergin_prize_outline.html
Topic: The Suez Crisis—
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 24: “The
Topic: Beginning of oil age; hydrocarbon man
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 27: “Hydrocarbon Man,” pp. 541-560.
Topic: IEA Data on Global Oil Resources, Reserves; Official
Projections
Read: {NOTE: Page through the second half (2nd file) of this
document to become familiar with it.}
[IEA02a] IEA World Energy Outlook 2002, IEA, Paris. See: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/iea/iea_2002_reports/
.
8:
Thursday 29sep05
Topic: “Blood and Oil”
Read: [Klare05] Chapter 2 – “Lethal Embrace: The American
Topic: Nationalizations; formation of OPEC; 1973 embargo
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 26, “OPEC and the Surge Pot,” pp.
519-540,
WEEK 5
9:
Tuesday 04Oct05
Topic: “Blood and Oil”
Read: [Klare05]
Chapter 3 – “Choosing Dependency: The Energy Strategy of the Bush
Administration” pp. 56-73.
Topic: Kissinger’s Dual Plan; Pilgrim Society Speech; the IEA
within the OECD structure
Read: [Yergin92]
Chapter 29, “The Oil Weapon,” pp. 588-612.
10:
Thursday 06Oct05
Topic: “Blood and Oil”
Read: [Klare05]
Chapter 4 – “Trapped in the Gulf: “The Irresistible Lure of
Topic: Kissinger’s Dual Plan; Pilgrim Society Speech; the IEA
within the OECD structure
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 30: “’Bidding for Our Life,’” pp.
613-632
WEEK 6
11:
Tuesday 11Oct05
Topic: Kissinger’s Dual Plan; Pilgrim Society Speech; the IEA
within the OECD structure
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 31:
“OPEC’s Imperium,” pp. 633-652.
Topic: Iranian Revolution; Carter Doctrine; Rapid Deployment
forces (late 70s, early 80s)
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 32: “The Adjustment,” pp. 653-673,
12:
Thursday 13Oct05
Topic: “Blood and Oil”
Read: [Klare05]
Chapter 5 – “No Safe Haven: Oil and Conflict Beyond the
NOTE
we are going to slow down a bit. I
edited the syllabus, moved several items that were above here to later dates,
and we’ll catch up discussing what we have been reading.
WEEK 7
Tuesday
18Oct05 NOTE – no class this day.
CATCH
UP with reading assigned to-date and prepare for midterm.
13:
Thursday 20Oct05
Topic: “Blood and Oil”
Read: [Klare05]
Chapter 6 – “Geopolitics Reborn: The U.S.-Russian-Chinese Struggle in
the Persian Gulf and
Read: [Klare05] Chapter 7 – “Escaping the Dilemma: A Strategy for Energy Autonomy and
Integrity,” pp. 179-202.Major energy producing regions
WEEK 8
14:
Tuesday 25Oct05
-- MIDTERM EXAM – in class,
written. Bring standard Blue Book(s)
NOTE: Intensive-research portion of
class begins.
15:
Thursday 27Oct05
– GUEST SPEAKER: Prof. Michael Klare. Discussion of his books: “Resource Wars” and
“Blood and Oil” which we have read.
[Video conference]
WEEK 9
16:
Tuesday 01Nov04
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 33: “The Second Shock: The Great
Panic,” pp. 674-698.
Topic: Iranian Revolution; Iran-Iraq War; Reagan and
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 34: “’We’re Going Down,’” pp.
699-714.
17:
Thursday 03Nov05 –
Topic: End of 2nd shock (~1986); boom; OPEC as
true cartel, 1985: secure oil supplies not high price
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 35: “ `Just Another Commodity?’ ” pp. 714-744. .
Read: [Yergin92] Chapter 36: “The Good Sweating: How low Can
it Go?’” p. 745-768.
WEEK 10
18:
Tuesday 08Nov05
Topic: Epilog to Yergin’s “The Prize”:
Read: [Yergin92] “Epilog”: pp. 769-788.
Topic: Major energy producing regions
Read: [eiacountry05] EIA Country Briefs:
19:
Thursday 10Nov05 –
GUEST SPEAKER: Prof. Tim Mitchell, NYU. [Video conference]
WEEK 11
20:
Tuesday 15Nov
Topic: Begin Stephen Pelletier’s book: “
Read: [Pelletier04], Introduction
Read: [Pelletier04], Chapter 1
Topic: Major energy producing regions |
Read: [eiacountry05] EIA Country Briefs:
Read: [Marcell03] “
21:
Thursday 17Nov05 –
GUEST SPEAKER: Prof. Jean-Francois Seznec,
WEEK 12
22:
Tuesday 22 Nov05
Topic: Stephen Pelletier’s “
Read: [Pelletier04] Chapter 2
Read: [Pelletier04] Chapter 3
Topic: Major energy producing regions
Read: [eiacountry05] EIA Country Briefs:
Read: See: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/iran
23:
Thursday 24Nov05
– No Class, Thanksgiving
WEEK 13
24:
Tuesday 29Nov05
Topic: Stephen Pelletier’s “
Read: [Pelletier04] Chapter 4
Topic: Major energy producing regions [eiacountry05] EIA
Country Briefs:
Topic: Major energy producing regions [eiacountry05] EIA
Country Briefs:
25:
Thursday 01Dec05
Topic: Stephen Pelletier’s “
Read: [Pelletier04] Chapter 5
Topic: Major energy producing regions [eiacountry05] EIA
Country Briefs:
WEEK 14
26:
Tuesday 06Dec05
Topic: Stephen Pelletier’s “
Read: [Pelletier04] Chapter 6
Read: [Pelletier04] Chapter 7
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The Western European
model; the English model
Read: E.U. Green Paper and discussions on Energy
Security. The home page options are all
gathered at: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/oil-ns/articles/eu/green_paper_home_page-2005.mht
Look over the PowerPoint brief summary of the paper.
Read: Read the final report (by consultants) for the
EU. See esp. portion on
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The Western European
model; the English model
Read: E.U. White Paper (will give URL)
27:
Thursday 08Dec05 –
Topic: Student research presentations
Topic: Course evaluations
WEEK 15
28:
Tuesday 13Dec05 –
Last Class
Topic: Student research presentations
III. ADDITIONAL TOPICS: AVAILABLE TO BE ADDED DEPENDING ON STUDENT
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
More petrogeology
detail and Hubbert’s Peak model (i.e., finish reading [Deffeyes01])
Topic: Petrogeology and resource
distribution |
Read: [Deffeyes01] Chapter 5: Drilling Methods, pp. 70-112.
Read: [Deffeyes01] Chapters 6: Size and Discoverability of
Oil Fields, pp. 88-132.
Topic: Petrogeology and resource
distribution | Energy content of oil,
properties vs. other fossil fuels, alternative
Read: [Deffeyes01] Chapters 7 & 8: Hubbert Revisited and
Rate Plots, pp. 113-158. [Deffeyes01] Chapters 9: The
Future of Fossil Fuels, pp. 159-175
Topic: Petrogeology and resource
distribution | Energy content of oil,
properties vs. other fossil fuels, alternative
Read: [Deffeyes01]
Chap. 10 & 11: Alternative Energy Sources and A
New Outlook, pp. 176-190.
29:
Topic: Japan-Chinese diplomatic struggle for Russian oil
access
Topic: Putin, Khodorkovsky, and Yukos; political vs. economic
oligarchs. Putin’s plan for Russian
energy-sector development as part of general re-development.
Topic: The Kyoto Treaty; Russian bargaining between E.U. and
30:
Global Warming
Topic:
Topic: N.B.: See separate syllabus for “Energy and the
Environment” 263. Guest speakers’ power
point presentations.
31:
Empire as such;
theories; theoretical debates (in N. America and
Topic: D.
Topic: “Empire” Hardt and Negre, 2000
Topic: L. Panitch and
Topic: V.I. Lenin, “Imperialism, the Highest (present?) Stage of Capital,” 1914
32:
“Peak Oil” issue
and effect of possible alternatives
Topic: Matt Simmons 2004 (of Simmons International investment
bank, in energy sector) criticisms, demand for “transparency” by Saudi’s, and
others:
Read: talk at Hudson Institute (PDF) and/or CSPAN Video
Read: “Twilight in the Desert: The
Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy,” Matthew R. Simmons, 2005.
Topic: “Pessimists” camp of
“Peak Oil”– by retired oil-industry officials
Read: [Laherrere01] “Estimates of Oil Reserves” Jean Laherrere, Paper presented at the EMF/IEA/IEW
meeting, IIASA,
Topic: Video of talks by M. Klare, M. Tanzier, T. O’Donnell
on global oil system, from 2005 Left Forum, CUNY,
Topic: Deffeyes’ new follow-on book on petrogeology
and alternatives to oil:
Read: “Beyond Oil:
The View from Hubbert's Peak,” Kenneth S. Deffeyes, 2005
Topic: Talk/Report (ppt) by head of
the USGS on Hubbert’s Peak predictions. Summarizes all
extant work on the topic, catigorizes, and makes own
predictions of peak timing.
Topic: “The Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas”
Read: Online newsletter administrated by ASPO Ireland and
compiled by Colin J. Campbell. See: http://www.peakoil.net
Topic: Nuclear Energy Sector Today
Read: Presentations by (fmr. U.Michigan Pres.) Jas. Duderstadt on nuclear industry in
33:
Transportation
infrastructure and technology:
Topic: Transportation
Infrastructure | The traffic problem,
costs;
Read: [VTPI03] Victoria Transport Policy Institute,
Read: [NYCRPA03] “An Exploration of Motor Vehicle Congestion
Pricing in
Read: [NewSci01] “Whose Roads Are They Anyway,” Mick Hamer,
New Scientist,
Read: [O’Rourke04] http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200412/orourke
The Atlantic Monthly, December 2004, The Agenda: The Art of Policy, Pork With a Point, The highway
bill—a translation P. J. O'Rourke
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | Fordism and the American
transportation model; the transportation lobby
Read: The Secret History of General Motors, video, by See QuickTime movie at: http://www.interactivist.net/transportation/ride_01.html
. (Excerpted from Taken for a Ride by James Klein
and Martha Olson), and the video collection at: http://www.interactivist.net/transportation/video_index.html
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The Fall of US
automobile monopoly, and the Information Revolution (n.a.)
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The Chinese
transformation;
Read: Automobiles in
Topic: Fast trains and mass transit – a. The one means of transport which breaks with
fossil fuels and addresses the
physics of the traffic/congestion problem
Topic: Fast trains and mass transit – b. Electricity
production in mass-transit society without fossil fuels: renewables, nuclear,
etc. Problem of energy density.
Topic: Personal transportation – a. The limits and falsity of a “hydrogen
economy”
Read: American Physical Society 2004 Commission report on
Read:
Topic: Personal transportation – b. Ethanol, fuel cells,
natural gas
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The pollution problem
Read: [IEA00a] The Road from Kyoto- Current CO2 and Transport Policies in
the IEA. IEA Report, 2000. (PDF book, 155 pp.) See: http://www.umich.edu/~twod/articles/road_from_kyoto_iea_autos_2000.pdf
Topic: Transportation & Energy
Infrastructure | The air-travel capacity
crisis
34:
Further topics
for student research; class topics according to interest (news media articles available,
etc.):
Topic:
Topic:
Topic: Iraq War logic; the occupation strategy; pre-war plans
for Iraqi oil
Topic: Post-invasion price rises;
Topic: New importance of
Topic:
Topic: Russian production and development strategies
Topic: alleviating MENA social-economic crises
--------
IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY
V. CALENDER