The End of Petroleum and the Global South - Ethnographies of Oil Extraction and Policy Futures in a Decarbonising World | S-OIL | Progetto | Scheda informativa | HORIZON | CORDIS

Descrizione del progetto

Le compagnie petrolifere nazionali in un mondo caratterizzato dall’urgente necessità della decarbonizzazione

L’urgenza della transizione verde ha esercitato un impatto sugli Stati, sui mercati e sulle società di tutto il mondo, dando origine a nuove dinamiche sociali, economiche e politiche e rafforzandone altre. Il progetto S-OIL, finanziato dal CER, esplora il ruolo, la natura e l’impronta di sviluppo delle compagnie petrolifere nazionali (CPN) in un mondo che richiede una rapida decarbonizzazione dell’economia globale. Il progetto studierà l’importanza delle CPN in Asia, Africa e America Latina valutandone la risposta alla transizione energetica, esaminandone l’impatto esercitato sullo sviluppo e sulla società e, infine, deducendo i metodi e le strategie con cui le CPN possono trasformarsi e contribuire in questi tempi cruciali. Il progetto mapperà e caratterizzerà le CPN, analizzerà le principali esperienze di trasformazione e ricercherà i casi in cui la proprietà pubblica si rivela fondamentale per promuovere i percorsi di transizione energetica.

Obiettivo

S-OIL is a transregional investigation into the nature, roles and developmental footprints of national oil companies (NOCs) facing the urgency of decarbonisation and the challenges of the global energy transition. Its significance and timeliness have been highlighted by growing academic and policy debates around the resurgence of the state, changing world geopolitics and the phasing out of fossil fuels.
State-owned oil companies will make or break the energy transition. To date, however, there have been no systematic research efforts nor attempts to theoretically engage with the restructuring of NOCs and its broader social, economic, political and environmental implications. Other studies have refocused the research agenda on the ‘greening’ of the oil industry; still, most of the recently published scientific literature has been framed by the specific conditions of a few countries and companies. My project, instead, will focus on the concrete significance and challenges of NOCs in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The overall goal is to critically assess the nature, roles and impacts of NOCs, charting a likely evolution and examining these companies’ opportunities, limitations and challenges while exploring alternatives to market-driven economics and politics in oil-producing countries. The research will be structured around three intertwined objectives:
1. To appraise national oil companies' shifting nature and significance in the Global South.
2. To assess the societal and developmental footprint of national oil companies.
3. Critically evaluate whether and how national oil companies can be transformed in the face of climate change and the urgent need to decarbonise the energy sector.
The work plan has been structured around an exhaustive mapping and characterisation of NOCs, an in-depth analysis of transformative experiences, processes and trends in three world regions, and ethnographic research on transformative cases of public ownership in the oil industry.