Biography
Jim Krane, Ph.D., is the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies and co-director of the Middle East Energy Roundtable at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He specializes in energy geopolitics, with a focus on oil-exporting countries and the challenges they face from climate action, the energy transition, energy subsidies, and internal demand. He teaches classes on energy policy and geopolitics at Rice University.
Krane’s scholarly articles have been published in Nature Energy, Middle East Journal, Foreign Affairs, Energy Policy, Energy Journal, Energy Research & Social Science, Resources Policy, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, MRS Energy and Sustainability, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, as well as numerous edited volumes.
He is the author of two books. His acclaimed 2009 volume “City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism” is widely recognized as the seminal work on the iconoclastic city-state, while his award-winning 2019 book “Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Persian Gulf” is the definitive study of energy demand in the Gulf region.
Krane spent nearly 20 years as a journalist, six of them in the Middle East. He was a longtime correspondent for the Associated Press based in Dubai, Baghdad, and New York, and has written for myriad other publications, including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and the Economist Intelligence Unit. He is the winner of several journalism awards, including the 2003 AP Managing Editors Deadline Reporting Award, received for his coverage of Saddam Hussein’s capture in Iraq. Krane received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, master’s from Columbia University, and bachelor’s from City College of New York.
Contact at [email protected] or 713-348-3567.
Recent Publications
Carbon Targets Deter Middle East Power Project Developers
Middle East power project developers face challenges in reducing carbon emissions in thermal power plants without carbon capture and storage. This is due to the extensive infrastructure built by the power sector over the years, said fellow Jim Krane.
Gulf States and the De-dollarisation Trend
The risk of being sanctioned has pushed a growing list of countries away from the dollar. “Setting up a non-dollar trade relationship acts as insurance against U.S. sanctions,” fellow Jim Krane explained.
Fact Check: Trump Boasts About a Massive Oil Purchase That Never Happened
“There’s months of supply in there still; it’s not empty, it’s not even close to being empty,” said fellow Jim Krane of the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve. “There’s a lot more oil in there than Pres. Trump is letting on,” he told CNN Politics.