Stefanie Heerwig

Stefanie Heerwig is a policy analyst and researcher with a focus on resource governance and extractive industries. Her past work has concentrated on fossil fuel subsidies and extractive industry governance in developing countries. She holds a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a master's degree in economics for development from the Universtiy of Oxford.

Articles by Stefanie Heerwig

• Will the gold rush ever end?

  ​In response to the financial crisis in 2007, gold prices more than doubled rising from an average…

  Monday, May 22, 2017

• The next frontier: Mining the deep sea

  As we continue consuming metals and rare earths at the same speed as today, we could run out of existing…

  Tuesday, April 04, 2017

• Challenges of oil and gas investment in West Africa with low oil prices

  When oil prices were up to $100 per barrel (WTI), development and exploration investments were booming…

  Friday, September 16, 2016

• The danger of missing climate change policies in business forecasts

  Between 2010 and 2016, the U.S. coal industry was subject to some of the most extremes booms and busts.…

  Friday, August 12, 2016

• The impact of Brexit on the oil and gas industry

  The decision by the British people to exit the European Union two weeks ago was for many a surprise and…

  Friday, July 08, 2016

• Are we heading toward a future of low oil prices?

  ​As the third-largest oil price crash over the past 30 years, the latest oil price cycle has raised…

  Friday, June 03, 2016

• The end of the 40-year-old crude export ban?

  After 40 years, the U.S. House of Representatives is considering a bill on the floor to lift the ban…

  Friday, October 02, 2015

• Rockets and feathers: Why prices at the tank fall so slowly

  While crude oil prices have been cut roughly in half since June last year, retail prices for regular…

  Friday, September 04, 2015

• EPA Clean Power Plan not as radical as it appears

  The Aug. 3 announcement of the EPA Clean Power Plan was not only met with surprise, but also huge opposition.…

  Friday, August 14, 2015

• Is fracking really a waste of water?

  One of the critiques against hydraulic fracturing (or fracking as it is commonly called) is that the…

  Friday, July 10, 2015

• Afghanistan must fall out of love with a natural resource-led future

  ​Not so long ago, Afghanistan's economic future was closely bound to the idea that despite all the…

  Friday, June 05, 2015

• US leads the world in hydrocarbon production — but for how long?

  According to the latest estimates of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) , the U.S. remained…

  Friday, May 08, 2015

• Is the shale bubble really ready to burst?

  Since June last year, bond yields of companies in the shale business rose from an average of 5.7 percent…

  Friday, April 03, 2015

• Low oil prices and fossil fuel subsidy reforms

  ​In 2014, nearly 30 countries cut down on their fossil fuel subsidies. In countries like Egypt, Indonesia…

  Friday, March 06, 2015

• Has the oil price hit its floor?

  Abdulla Al-Badri, secretary general of OPEC, announced recently that oil prices might have reached their…

  Friday, February 06, 2015

• Why falling oil prices don’t signify the end of the shale revolution

  As shale businesses fear for their survival and workers for their jobs, the future of the U.S. shale…

  Friday, January 09, 2015

• What’s the real cause of falling oil prices?

  Despite conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and Libya, oil prices have bottomed out since June this year.…

  Friday, November 14, 2014

• Local content requirements in the oil and gas sector

  With decreasing oil and gas supplies and increasingly-hard-to-reach reserves, global oil and gas majors…

  Friday, October 17, 2014

• Round Zero and Mexico’s energy reform

  ​Nearly one year ago Mexico's government enacted a ground-breaking constitutional reform wrapping over…

  Friday, September 19, 2014

• The end of coal? What new EPA regulations mean for the industry

  ​On June 2, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan to cut carbon emission from power…

  Friday, August 22, 2014

• US cruising on a fast track toward LNG exports

  With the Ukraine-Russia conflict tightening, rebel armies trying to take control over Iraqi oil and Westerners…

  Monday, July 28, 2014

• How will Iraq turmoil impact the oil price?

  Speculations have run rampant about the impact of the Iraqi attacks on international oil prices. Will…

  Friday, June 27, 2014

• Unconventional oil — Is it really worth it?

  Capital expenditure (capex) by oil companies has been rising to astronomical heights over the past decade.…

  Friday, May 30, 2014

• Has US oil consumption decreased because of peak oil?

  Since 2008, U.S. oil consumption has declined by more than 20 percent, giving peak-oil theorists their…

  Friday, May 02, 2014

• Are electric cars an efficient renewable energy policy?

  In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama set an ambitious goal — for the United…

  Friday, April 04, 2014

• Big data and big oil — a perfect marriage?

  Big oil and gas companies are finding new ways to extract data streams, combine them, merge them and…

  Friday, March 07, 2014

• Can solar energy compete with fossil fuels?

  According to the Edison Electric Institute, such utility-sized solar plants will soon appear across the…

  Friday, February 21, 2014

• Refineries: The real winners of the shale oil boom

  Smoke rises again from the pilot flare of a Texas-based Blue Dolphin Energy refinery after a two-decade…

  Friday, February 07, 2014

• US vs. Europe: Comparing different approaches to renewable energy

  Let's assume this statement is true: The world is running toward a huge climate crisis. Temperatures…

  Friday, January 24, 2014

• The end of gas prices as we know them

  Many have heard about fears that exports of natural gas in the U.S. could lead to comparatively higher…

  Friday, January 10, 2014

• Federal vs. state: What’s best to regulate hydraulic fracturing?

  The discussion about who should regulate hydraulic fracturing and how reached another critical point…

  Friday, December 13, 2013

• Turkish-Kurdish pipeline poker and Kurdistan’s investment climate

  ​Over the last three years or so Iraqi Kurdistan has gained attention from international oil companies…

  Monday, December 02, 2013

• To frack or not to frack: What should you think?

  When I tell friends about what industry I am working in, I often get the following question: "So what…

  Friday, November 15, 2013

• Afghanistan at a crossroads for future oil and gas extraction

  At the beginning of October, Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines and Petroleum released a new tender for…

  Friday, November 01, 2013

• The scramble for East Africa

  Go East might be the new motto for oil and gas investors buzzing around in the search of profitable routes…

  Friday, October 18, 2013

• Contract transparency: A win-win situation

  Contract transparency is increasingly advocated as a tool to achieve good governance in the extractive…

  Friday, October 04, 2013

• Awaiting the SEC’s decision on transparency in the extractive industries

  ​Whatever will happen in the next months will probably be a turning point in the history on transparency…

  Friday, September 20, 2013

• Getting green and energy independent: Nice try?

  "We'll continue our march towards energy independence and address the threat of climate change," President…

  Tuesday, September 17, 2013

• Can Egypt have a serious impact on the international oil market?

  Without doubt Egypt is one of the strategic hotspots when it comes to transporting fuel between the Middle…

  Tuesday, September 17, 2013

• US as leading subsidizer of fossil fuels? Do estimates matter?

  If you want to know the true costs of fossil fuel subsidies in the US, you might think you can just have…

  Tuesday, September 17, 2013

• US Department of Energy pessimistic about energy independence?

  Very pessimistic, the EIA foresees in its main prediction (or reference case) that U.S. net imports will…

  Tuesday, September 17, 2013

• Making sense of oil pricing and price manipulation

  The prices oil companies like Shell, BP and Statoil report to Platts are based on their amount of physical…

  Tuesday, September 17, 2013

• Iran’s influence on the oil market and the fate of the US oil industry

  The first question, of course, is whether Iran would throw a 1 million barrels a day on the market in…

  Tuesday, September 17, 2013

• Energy sector reforms in Mexico: A catch-22

  Whatever changes Mexico's energy sector will take, they will be radical compared to the status quo. At…

  Friday, August 09, 2013

• Shale revolution in doubt — so what?

  No single day seems to go by without praises of the shale revolution. And no assessment of the oil market…

  Friday, June 21, 2013