Fossil Fuel: from Paleozoic Past to Geopolitical Present

Oil and gas are some of the most important commodities affecting global market and geopolitical balance today. Despite economic benefits, the exploration of the fossil fuel reserves, their processing, transport, and use have a tremendous impact on the environment and human health on the planetary scale. These resources are finite and non-renewable, with their origin, composition, and distribution resulting from an eon-long geological history. This week’s speaker, Dr. Paul H. Nadeau, a professor of University of Stavanger, Norway, will discuss the way the geological past processes produced the present-day distribution of oil and gas with the glimpse into their significance in the future, with special references to the United States.