Dear Colleagues & friends, Below is an invite to our first Berlin Energy Forum (jump to details | jump to register), but first a personal note.
First, a personal note: As some of you know, this is an idea I’ve been floating in Berlin since well before Corona. Then, last October, I had an experimental test run, a one-off, sponsored by the Qatari embassy’s Divan – and it went very well.
However, the biggest success from that event was that Ben Aris, co-founder and editor-in-chief of bne IntelliNews enthusiastically joined me to found the Berlin Energy Forum as a regular monthly sort of membership club. Amongst the longest serving foreign correspondents in Eastern Europe, Ben has been covering Russia since 1993, with stints in the Baltics and Central Asia. He is a former Moscow bureau chief for the Daily Telegraph and was a contributing editor at The Banker and Euromoney for a decade amongst writing for many other publications. He is also a professional photographer, and nowadays based in Berlin.
Ben is one of those rare people who relishes doing analysis and data-driven writing (non-stop!), AND who knows how to do business – and thoroughly enjoys doing it. Just the partner for this endeavor.
My model and inspiration for this forum was always the New York Energy Forum, which has run for over 40 years now. I happily attended while teaching in NYC. My experience with that forum, plus familiarity with a few top DC think tanks, and various foreign diplomats (esp. in NYC/UN), is how, as an academic, I got to know a broad spectrum of USA oil and gas executives, journalists, financial-institution analysts and government officials. Those personal connections have, over the years, anchored my assessments of USA, of OPEC MENA-and-Latin American members’, and of Russian and Chinese strategy. This sort of community doesn’t exist in Europe in such a focused manner, save perhaps in London. Perhaps we can now bring a bit of that world to Berlin with our new BEF.
The whole idea (I’m still speaking for myself here), has been to find ways to disrupt the self-referential and often ideologically driven technical-economic “solutions” to energy problems one finds especially in Germany — “solutions” arising from a populist model of “100%-renewables-and-no-nuclear” that won out over more pragmatic models in 2011.
This anti-nuclear and only-renewables model (with de facto massive natural gas backup), is a very different energy and geostrategic milieu than found in most other countries. I hope the BEF engages these issues by bringing in experienced energy-sector analysts and leaders from the farther-reaches of the EU, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the USA, and perhaps from the Caspian and other regions, to speak alongside local experts.
And this is why I say a “membership club.” It takes money to fly in people, rent venues and such (and for networking/imbibing after a panel). Institutional sponsorship, such as by a foundation or think tank, for such wide-ranging energy events did not find success in Berlin. So, for the new BEF, we have begun making pitches to German and EU firms, embassies, ministries and others to take annual sponsorships. And, after the first event, we will charge an attendance fee – unless a corporate sponsor springs for a given event. Though, we will also strive to bring in academic and think-tank professionals.
I cannot help mention that a number of my colleagues and former students, some of whom are now well-established in the energy sector and government, told me that it would not be possible to have this sort of energy forum in Berlin, as it is, “an energy echo chamber,” with a statist, ideological approach to the energy policy. Maybe this is why, so far, discussions have revealed an real interest in opening up Berlin to the larger world of analysis and debates.
It’s no secret that the continued effects of the Russian energy war are morphing long-time worries over German “uncompetitiveness” into alarm over “deindustrialization” and “restructuring”. Having had deep experience of the USA’s industrial restructuring of the mid-70’s through 1990’s – from working in the railway, auto and energy sectors there during that time, I can say this will be a very difficult transition for Germany, and thus Europe, one demanding sober analysis.
Here’s to our new BEF contributing to a German and EU energy Zeitenwende … a real one in this case!
1st Berlin Energy Forum: “The Great European Energy crisis: drones, price caps and shadow fleets”
We are happy to invite you to the inaugural Berlin Energy Forum, on May 21, 2024, in Berlin, 4 PM (location TBA). This forum aims to provide a platform to address the pivotal issues facing the European energy sector, from a larger, global perspective.
The Berlin Energy Forum is founded and organized by:
- Ben Aris, editor in chief and founder of IntelliNews, and
- Dr. Tom O’Donnell, Global Fellow of the Wilson Centre, Washington, DC (external); energy and geopolitical expert, and nuclear physicist, teaching in Berlin.
Expert Panel:
- Benjamin Hilgenstock, the senior economist at the Kyiv School of Economics, who leads research on the effects of sanctions on Russia’s oil trade and budget.
- Christof Ruehl, Senior Research Scholar at the Centre on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University, and former chief economist at BP and the World Bank in Moscow, will also share his valuable expertise on Europe’s energy markets.
- Chris Weafer, founder and CEO of Macro-Advisory, who brings extensive experience from his tenure as head of research at major Moscow-based investment banks.
Networking Opportunities: Connect with industry peers, leaders, and policymakers in a setting designed to foster meaningful interactions and potential collaborations.
Event Details:
Date: May 21, 2024, 4 PM
Location: (Venue T.B.A.) in Berlin, Germany
Admission: Complimentary for this premier event
RSVP: Please confirm your attendance by registering here (in person or virtual) For further information, registration assistance, or any inquiries, please contact us at info@berlinenergyforum.de
The Global Barrel 