Podcast Archives - Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Hannah Hauman, Global Head of Carbon Trading at Trafigura and lead author on operationalizing Article 6, delves into the evolving landscape of global carbon markets. She discusses foundational aspects, recent trades, and the necessary digital and legal infrastructure to support scalability. Hauman emphasizes Article 6's role in creating a compliant international market that enhances cross-border trade. The conversation also touches on the benefits for developing countries and the potential for carbon trading to accelerate decarbonization by driving efficient capital flow.

In this latest OIES podcast, from the Gas Programme, James Henderson talks to Jack Sharples and Anouk Honore about the latest Gas Quarterly and their thoughts on the current state of the global gas market. Jack opens the podcast with a review of the current market looking at price movements over the past three months and assessing the key geopolitical and commercial factors which have influenced the market over the past three months. Anouk picks up the story with a review of Europe gas demand, highlighting the increasing volatility of gas demand in the power sector, the struggle for demand recovery in the industrial sector and the impact of the weather on residential consumers. Finally, Jack reviews global LNG supply, the main shifts in demand in Asia and the impact on LNG availability to Europe. He then looks at how LNG fits into the overall European supply picture before concluding with a look at the storage market and what it implies for future prices. The post OIES Podcast – Gas quarterly and market update appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In this latest episode of the OIES Electricity Programme podcast, Dimitra Apostolopoulou speaks with Sarah Montgomery, CEO and Co-Founder of Infyos, about the critical role of energy storage in achieving net zero. Building on Sarah’s recent presentation at the OIES annual Energy Transition event in June, the conversation begins with a deep dive into how storage technologies fit within the broader strategy for delivering reliable, low-carbon electricity systems. Dimitra and Sarah discuss the scale of storage needed to meet decarbonisation targets and examine where deployment is accelerating most rapidly, from China and the United States to emerging regional markets. They unpack the economics of storage, exploring how projects generate revenue today, how business models may evolve amid price volatility, and how policy tools such as capacity markets or cap-and-floor schemes provide revenue stability. Beyond economics, the episode also highlights key bottlenecks, including grid infrastructure constraints, permitting delays, and the global competition for critical minerals that underpin battery supply chains. Sarah offers her perspective on how these challenges intersect with geopolitics and supply security, providing a view of what it will take to scale up energy storage in the years ahead. The post OIES Podcast – Storage in the Energy Transition: Reality Check and Challenges appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

Dimitra Apostolopoulou, a Research Fellow specializing in electricity system coordination and decarbonisation, discusses her co-authored paper on energy system challenges. She highlights the complexities of coordinating a diverse array of stakeholders, from large operators to individual prosumers. Key issues include misaligned incentives and systemic risks that hinder effective transitions to net zero. Dimitra advocates for a hybrid governance model, blending authoritative oversight with market mechanisms to enhance coordination and efficiency as we navigate a carbon-constrained future.

In this podcast, Bassam Fattouh discusses with Paul Horsnell the latest developments in oil market and the outlook for the rest of this year and 2026. The podcast addresses some key questions shaping the oil market including: ⁠ ⁠What have been the impacts of the latest decisions by the eight OPEC+ countries on market dynamics, including perceptions of spare capacity? ⁠ ⁠What are the main reasons behind China’s crude stocking, and what implications does it have for the global oil market? ⁠ ⁠What role does the geopolitical risk premium play in oil markets? ⁠ ⁠What does the shape of the forward curve reveal about oil market expectations? ⁠ ⁠Why is positioning by managed money in Brent and WTI different? ⁠ ⁠Why does the Brent price continue to be supported despite very bearish expectations? ⁠ ⁠What is the oil market outlook for Q4 2025 and 2026, and could there be a shift in the “oil glut” narrative? What factors could drive such a change? The post OIES Podcast – Key trends shaping the oil market appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In this latest OIES podcast, from the Hydrogen Programme, James Henderson talks to Aliaksei Patonia and Martin Lambert about two recent papers on the potential for developing natural and stimulated hydrogen. The podcast begins with an overview of the current state of the hydrogen market and the reasons behind the new interest in natural and stimulated hydrogen before moving on to discuss how natural hydrogen is found and developed. A discussion around the key challenges focuses on the one field put into production so far, in Mali, and we also explore the key drivers of the economics of hydrogen production. We move on to a description of the key technologies being used to develop stimulated hydrogen and the potential size of the resource base, before looking at the cost comparisons with blue and green hydrogen. We look at the possible environmental challenges before concluding with a summary of the outlook for natural and stimulated hydrogen and the timescale for seeing significant production. The post OIES Podcast – The Prospects for Natural and Stimulated Hydrogen appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In this latest OIES podcast, from the China and Gas Programmes, James Henderson talks to Michal Meidan and Vitaly Yermakov about their latest comment on developments in China-Russia gas relations. The podcast starts with an overview of a number of important moves involving Chinese purchases of sanctioned Russian LNG cargoes and the signing of new pipeline gas export contracts during the recent visit of President Putin to Beijing. The purchases of LNG from the Arctic LNG-2 project are assessed for their commercial and political impact, and we consider the implications for the further development of LNG trade and the potential development of new LNG projects in Russia. From a pipeline perspective, we examine the expansion of two existing export contracts between Russia and China and look at the realistic prospect for the new Power of Siberia 2 contracts being fully realised. We discuss the potential commercial terms and their implications for Russia’s gas industry and also for China’s emerging role as an important swing buyer and seller of LNG into the global market. Finally, we discuss the geopolitical implications of these gas market developments and how we should interpret China’s apparent willingness to increase engagement with Russia while seemingly ignoring western sanctions. The post OIES Podcast – Update on China-Russia gas relations appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In this latest OIES podcast, Michal Meidan and Bill Farren-Price talk to Michael Martin Richter about the complex trade-offs in Europe’s energy transition and the need to balance energy security, industrial competitiveness and sustainability. They discuss the key takeaways from a joint workshop organised by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and the Hanns Seidel Foundation UK and highlight a number of challenges facing Europe: First, the energy price premium that hinders industrial competitiveness. Second, despite a desire to accelerate the energy transition, Europe is facing  growing political friction and pushback against the costs of the energy transition. Third, governments need to manage the shifting geopolitical landscape and the need to manage complex dependencies on Russia, China and the US.   The post OIES Podcast – Rethinking Europe’s energy trilemma appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

In this podcast, Hasan Muslemani speaks to Mathieu Lucquiaud and Stuart Walker about their forthcoming OIES paper which comparatively evaluates the climate performance of using waste biomass for two rising practices: as input into energy-from-waste facilities coupled with CCS (EfW with CCS) or for the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). The podcast discusses the lifecycle assessment approach which the authors follow in their study and highlight key results including the net-negative emissions arising from both practices and other avoided environmental impacts. The podcast concludes with key policy implications and recommendations for the complementary development of both the EfW+CCS and SAF sectors. The post OIES Podcast – Climate performance of SAF and energy-from-waste with CCS appeared first on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

Paul Horsnell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, shares his extensive expertise in commodity analysis. He discusses the evolving oil supply and demand in 2023 and questions the credibility of the 'oil glut' narrative. The dynamics of inventory building across OECD countries are explored, alongside the surprising stability of oil market volatility amid geopolitical tensions. Additionally, he offers insights into OPEC+'s strategic cuts, the future of U.S. shale oil, and the interplay between financial and physical oil markets.