Glossary of Terms Analytics - is the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. Especially valuable in areas rich with recorded information, analytics relies on the simultaneous application of statistics, computer programming and operations research to quantify performance. Organizations may apply analytics to business data to describe, predict, and improve business performance. Specifically, areas within analytics include predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics, enterprise decision management, descriptive analytics, cognitive analytics, retail analytics, store assortment and stock-keeping unit optimization, marketing optimization and marketing mix modelling, web analytics, call analytics, speech analytics, sales force sizing and optimization, price and promotion modelling, predictive science, credit risk analysis, and fraud analytics. Since analytics can require extensive computation (see big data), the algorithms and software used for analytics harness the most current methods in computer science, statistics, and mathematics. Anglosphere (The) – is the remnants of the British Empire. The Anglosphere is a set of English-speaking nations with similar cultural roots, based upon populations originating from the nations of the British Isles (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland), which today maintain close political and military cooperation. While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, although the nations that are commonly included were all once part of the British Empire. In its most restricted sense, the term covers Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which in the post-British Empire era maintain a close affinity of cultural, familial, and political links with one another. Anthracite coal - The highest rank of coal; used primarily for residential and commercial space heating. It is a hard, brittle, and black lustrous coal, often referred to as hard coal, containing a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter. The moisture content of fresh-mined anthracite generally is less than 15 percent. The heat content of anthracite ranges from 22 to 28 million Btu per ton on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis. The heat content of anthracite coal consumed in the United States averages 25 million Btu per ton, on the as-received basis (i.e., containing both inherent moisture and mineral matter). Note: Since the 1980's, anthracite refuse or mine waste has been used for steam electric power generation. This fuel typically has a heat content of 15 million Btu per ton or less. Arab Spring (The) - also referred to as Arab revolutions, was a revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests, riots, coups and civil wars in North Africa and the Middle East that began on 17 December 2010 in Tunisia with the Tunisian Revolution. This was the evolution and rebranding of the Colour Revolutions. Arctic drilling - or drilling in arctic environments are characterized by extreme cold winters where surface temperature a d op elo − °C − °F . The fi e A ti egio s of ‘ussia, Alaska, No a , G ee la d, a d Canada hold a tremendous potential for both discovered and undiscovered reserves of Oil and Gas. The north area of the Arctic Circle contains an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of technically recoverable natural gas liquids. Asphalt - A dark brown-to-black cement-like material obtained by petroleum processing and containing bitumens as the predominant component; used primarily for road construction. It includes crude asphalt as well as the following finished products: cements, fluxes, the asphalt content of emulsions (exclusive of water), and petroleum distillates blended with asphalt to make cutback asphalts. Note: The conversion factor for asphalt is 5.5 barrels per short ton. Aviation gasoline (finished) - A complex mixture of relatively volatile hydrocarbons with or without small quantities of additives, blended to form a fuel suitable for use in aviation reciprocating engines. Fuel specifications are provided in ASTM Specification D 910 and Military Specification MIL-G-5572. Note: Data on blending components are not counted in data on finished aviation gasoline. Baltic Dry Index (The) – The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is an economic indicator issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange. Not restricted to Baltic Sea countries, the index provides "an assessment" of the price of moving the major 1 raw materials by sea. Taking in 23 shipping routes measured on a timecharter basis, the index covers Handysize, Supramax, Panamax, and Capesize dry bulk carriers carrying a range of commodities including coal, iron ore and grain. Bank Run - A bank run (also known as a run on the bank) occurs when in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks normally only keep a small proportion of their assets as cash), a large number of customers withdraw cash from deposit accounts with a financial institution at the same time because they believe that the financial institution is, or might become, insolvent; and keep the cash or transfer it into other assets, such as government bonds, precious metals or gemstones. When they transfer funds to another institution it may be characterised as a capital flight. As a bank run progresses, it generates its own momentum: as more people withdraw cash, the likelihood of default increases, triggering further withdrawals. This can destabilize the bank to the point where it runs out of cash and thus faces sudden bankruptcy. To combat a bank run, a bank may limit how much cash each customer may withdraw, suspend withdrawals altogether, or promptly acquire more cash from other banks or from the central bank, besides other measures. Banking panic (or bank panic) - is a financial crisis that occurs when many banks suffer runs at the same time, as people suddenly try to convert their threatened deposits into cash or try to get out of their domestic banking system altogether. Barrel - A unit of volume equal to 42 U.S. gallons. The unit of measure to describe volumes of oil. bbl - The abbreviation for barrel(s). bbl/d - The abbreviation for barrel(s) per day. bbl/sd - The abbreviation for barrel(s) per stream day. bcf - The abbreviation for billion cubic feet. Base gas - The quantity of natural gas needed to maintain adequate reservoir pressures and deliverability rates throughout the withdrawal season. Base gas usually is not withdrawn and remains in the reservoir. All natural gas native to a depleted reservoir is included in the base gas volume. Biodiesel - A fuel typically made from soybean, canola, or other vegetable oils; animal fats; and recycled grease. It can serve as a substitute for petroleum-derived diesel or distillate fuel. For EIA reporting, it is a fuel composed of monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated B100, and meeting the requirements of ASTM (American Society for Testing materials) D 6751. Biofuels - Liquid fuels and blending components produced from biomass feedstocks, used primarily for transportation. Essentially ethanol and biodiesel. Biomass - Organic non-fossil material of biological origin constituting a renewable energy source. Biomass-based liquid supplies - (BtL or BMtL) is a multi-step process of producing synthetic hydrocarbon fuels made from biomass via a thermochemical route. Such a fuel has been called grassoline. Biomass gas (Biogas) - A medium Btu gas containing methane and carbon dioxide, resulting from the action of microorganisms on organic materials such as a landfill. Biomass power generation (Bioenergy) - Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. As a fuel it may include wood, wood waste, straw, manure, sugarcane, and many other by-products from a variety of agricultural processes. By 2010, there was 35 GW (47,000,000 hp) of globally installed bioenergy capacity for electricity generation, of which 7 GW (9,400,000 hp) was in the United States. In its most narrow sense it is a synonym to biofuel, which is fuel derived from biological sources. In its broader sense it includes biomass, the biological material used as a biofuel, as well as the social, economic, scientific and technical fields associated with using biological sources for energy. This is a common misconception, as bioenergy is the energy extracted from the biomass, as the biomass is the 2 fuel and the bioenergy is the energy contained in the fuel. There is a slight tendency for the word bioenergy to be favoured in Europe compared with biofuel in America. Bitumen - A naturally occurring viscous mixture, mainly of hydrocarbons heavier than pentane, that may contain sulphur compounds and that, in its natural occurring viscous state, is not recoverable at a commercial rate through a well. Bituminous coal - A dense coal, usually black, sometimes dark brown, often with well-defined bands of bright and dull material, used primarily as fuel in steam-electric power generation, with substantial quantities also used for heat and power applications in manufacturing and to make coke. Bituminous coal is the most abundant coal in active U.S. mining regions. Its moisture content usually is less than 20 percent. The heat content of bituminous coal ranges from 21 to 30 million Btu per ton on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis. The heat content of bituminous coal consumed in the United States averages 24 million Btu per ton, on the as-received basis (i.e., containing both inherent moisture and mineral matter). BOE - Barrels of Oil Equivalent (used internationally) Boiler - A device for generating steam for power, processing, or heating purposes; or hot water for heating purposes or hot water supply. Heat from an external combustion source is transmitted to a fluid contained within the tubes found in the boiler shell. This fluid is delivered to an end-use at a desired pressure, temperature, and quality. Boiler fuel - An energy source to produce heat that is transferred to the boiler vessel in order to generate steam or hot water. Fossil fuel is the primary energy source used to produce heat for boilers. Black Swan Event - The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. The term is based on an ancient saying which presumed black swans did not exist, but the saying was rewritten after black swans were discovered in the wild. The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain:    The disproportionate role of high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and technology. The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities). The psychological biases which blind people, both individually and collectively, to uncertainty and to a rare event's massive role in historical affairs. Blast-furnace gas - The waste combustible gas generated in a blast furnace when iron ore is being reduced with coke to metallic iron. It is commonly used as a fuel within steel works. Blowout (Oil gusher) - A blowout is the uncontrolled release of crude oil and/or natural gas from an oil well or gas well after pressure control systems have failed. Modern wells have blowout preventers intended to prevent such an occurrence. Prior to the advent of pressure control equipment in the 1920s, the uncontrolled release of oil and gas from a well while drilling was common and was known as an oil gusher, gusher or wild well. An accidental spark during a blowout can lead to a catastrophic oil or gas fire. Breeder Reactor (Fast) - is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. These devices achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to breed more fissile fuel than they use from fertile material, such as uranium-238 or thorium-232. Breeders were at first found attractive because their fuel economy was better than light water reactors, but interest declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found, and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs. Brent Crude - is a major trading classification of sweet light crude oil that serves as a major benchmark price for purchases of oil worldwide. This grade is described as light because of its relatively low density, and sweet because of its low sulphur content. Brent Crude is extracted from the North Sea and comprises Brent Blend, Forties Blend, Oseberg and Ekofisk crudes (also known as the BFOE Quotation). 3 Bretton Woods system - of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and Japan after the 1944 Bretton-Woods Agreement. The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent states. The chief features of the Bretton Woods system were an obligation for each country to adopt a monetary policy that maintained the exchange rate (± 1 percent) by tying its currency to gold and the ability of the IMF to bridge temporary imbalances of payments. Also, there was a need to address the lack of cooperation among other countries and to prevent competitive devaluation of the currencies as well. Preparing to rebuild the international economic system while World War II was still raging, 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, also known as the Bretton Woods Conference. Setting up a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system, these accords established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which today is part of the World Bank Group. The United States, which controlled two thirds of the world's gold, insisted that the Bretton Woods system rest on both gold and the US dollar. Soviet representatives attended the conference but later declined to ratify the final agreements, charging that the institutions they had created were "branches of Wall Street." These organizations became operational in 1945 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified the agreement. British thermal unit (BTU) - The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of liquid water by 1 degree Fahrenheit at the temperature at which water has its greatest density (approximately 39 degrees Fahrenheit). Btu conversion factor - A factor for converting energy data between one unit of measurement and British thermal units (Btu). Btu conversion factors are generally used to convert energy data from physical units of measure (such as barrels, cubic feet, or short tons) into the energy-equivalent measure of Btu. Btu per cubic foot - The total heating value, expressed in Btu, produced by the combustion, at constant pressure, of the amount of the gas that would occupy a volume of 1 cubic foot at a temperature of 60 degrees F if saturated with water vapor and under a pressure equivalent to that of 30 inches of mercury at 32 degrees F and under standard gravitational force (980.665 cm. per sec. squared) with air of the same temperature and pressure as the gas, when the products of combustion are cooled to the initial temperature of gas and air when the water formed by combustion is condensed to the liquid state.(Sometimes called gross heating value or total heating value.) BTX - The acronym for the commercial petroleum aromatics-- benzene, toluene, and xylene. Bubble (economic or asset) - An economic bubble or asset bubble (sometimes also referred to as a speculative bubble, a market bubble, a price bubble, a financial bubble, a speculative mania, or a balloon) is trade in an asset at a price or price range that strongly exceeds the asset's intrinsic value. Byproduct - A secondary or additional product resulting from the feedstock use of energy or the processing of nonenergy materials. For example, the more common byproducts of coke ovens are coal gas, tar, and a mixture of benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX). Calorific value (or content) - The heating value (or energy value or calorific value) of a substance, usually a fuel or food (see food energy), is the amount of heat released during the combustion of a specified amount of it. ... It is measured in units of energy per unit of the substance, usually mass, such as: kJ/kg, kJ/mol, kcal/kg, Btu/lb. Canadian syncrude - Syncrude Canada Ltd. is one of the world's largest producers of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. Canadian tar sands – Often referred to as the massive deposits of oil sands or tar sands in Alberta Canada. See oil sands Capital investment - The term Capital Investment has two usages in business. First, capital investment refers to money used by a business to purchase fixed assets, such as land, machinery, or buildings. Secondly, capital investment refers 4 to money invested in a business with the understanding that the money will be used to purchase fixed assets, rather than used to cover the business's day-to-day operating expenses. Capital expenditure or capital expense (CAPEX) - is the money a company spends to buy, maintain, or improve its fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land.[1][2] It is considered a capital expenditure when the asset is newly purchased or when money is used towards extending the useful life of an existing asset, such as repairs to a uildi g s roof. Carbon black - An amorphous form of carbon, produced commercially by thermal or oxidative decomposition of hydrocarbons and used principally in rubber goods, pigments, and printer's ink. Carbon dioxide emissions - There are both natural and human sources of carbon dioxide emissions. Natural sources include decomposition, ocean release and respiration. Human sources come from activities like cement production, deforestation as well as the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. Catalytic cracking - The refining process of breaking down the larger, heavier, and more complex hydrocarbon molecules into simpler and lighter molecules. Catalytic cracking is accomplished by the use of a catalytic agent and is an effective process for increasing the yield of gasoline from crude oil. Catalytic cracking processes fresh feeds and recycled feeds. Catch-22 - is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules. The term was coined by Joseph Heller, who used it in his 1961 novel Catch-22. Catch-22s often result from rules, regulations, or procedures that an individual is subject to but has no control over because to fight the rule is to accept it. Another example is a situation in which someone is in need of something that can only be had by not being in need of it. (A bank will never issue someone a loan if they need the money.) One connotation of the term is that the creators of the "catch-22" situation have created arbitrary rules in order to justify and conceal their own abuse of power. Central Bank - A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages a state's currency, money supply, and interest rates. Central banks also usually oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base in the state, and usually also prints the national currency, which usually serves as the state's legal tender. The main function of a central bank is to control the nation's money supply (monetary policy), through active duties such as managing interest rates, setting the reserve requirement, and acting as a lender of last resort to the banking sector during times of bank insolvency or financial crisis. Central banks usually also have supervisory powers, intended to prevent bank runs and to reduce the risk that commercial banks and other financial institutions engage in reckless or fraudulent behaviour. Central banks in most developed nations are institutionally designed to be independent from political interference. Still, limited control by the executive and legislative bodies usually exists. Chain reaction (A) - is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events. Chain reactions are one way in which systems which are in thermodynamic non-equilibrium can release energy or increase entropy in order to reach a state of higher entropy. For example, a system may not be able to reach a lower energy state by releasing energy into the environment, because it is hindered or prevented in some way from taking the path that will result in the energy release. If a reaction results in a small energy release making way for more energy releases in an expanding chain, then the system will typically collapse explosively until much or all of the stored energy has been released. A macroscopic metaphor for chain reactions is thus a snowball causing a larger snowball until finally an avalanche results ("snowball effect"). This is a result of stored gravitational potential energy seeking a path of release over friction. Chernobyl disaster (The) - also referred to as the Chernobyl accident, was a catastrophic nuclear accident. It occurred on 26 April 1986 in the No.4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, in what was then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). The event occurred during a late-night safety test which simulated a station blackout power-failure and in which safety systems were deliberately turned off. A combination of inherent reactor design flaws and the reactor operators arranging the core in a manner contrary to the checklist for the test, eventually resulted in uncontrolled reaction conditions. Water flashed into steam 5 generating a destructive steam explosion and a subsequent open-air graphite fire. This fire produced considerable updrafts for about nine days. These lofted plumes of fission products into the atmosphere. The estimated radioactive inventory that was released during this very hot fire phase approximately equalled in magnitude the airborne fission products released in the initial destructive explosion. Practically all of this radioactive material would then go on to fall-out/precipitate onto much of the surface of the western USSR and Europe. The Chernobyl accident dominates the energy accidents sub-category, of most disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history, both in terms of cost and casualties. It is one of only two nuclear energy accidents classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Club of Rome (The) - is a global think tank that deals with a variety of international issues, including the world economic system, climate change, and environmental degradation. Founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy, the Club of Rome describes itself as "a group of world citizens, sharing a common concern for the future of humanity." It consists of current and former heads of state, UN bureaucrats, high-level politicians and government officials, diplomats, scientists, economists and business leaders from around the globe. Coal - A readily combustible black or brownish-black rock whose composition, including inherent moisture, consists of more than 50 percent by weight and more than 70 percent by volume of carbonaceous material. It is formed from plant remains that have been compacted, hardened, chemically altered, and metamorphosed by heat and pressure over geologic time. Coalbed methane - Coalbed methane (CBM or coal-bed methane), coalbed gas, coal seam gas (CSG), or coal-mine methane (CMM) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries. The term refers to methane adsorbed into the solid matrix of the coal. It is called 'sweet gas' because of its lack of hydrogen sulfide. The presence of this gas is well known from its occurrence in underground coal mining, where it presents a serious safety risk. Coalbed methane is distinct from a typical sandstone or other conventional gas reservoir, as the methane is stored within the coal by a process called adsorption. The methane is in a near-liquid state, lining the inside of pores within the coal (called the matrix). The open fractures in the coal (called the cleats) can also contain free gas or can be saturated with water. Coal chemicals - Coal chemicals are obtained from the gases and vapor recovered from the manufacturing of coke. Generally, crude tar, ammonia, crude light oil, and gas are the basic products recovered. They are refined or processed to yield a variety of chemical materials. Coal consumption - The quantity of coal burned for the generation of electric power (in short tons), including fuel used for maintenance of standby service. Coal conversion – see coal liquefaction. Coal fired power plants - are a type of power plant that make use of the combustion of coal in order to generate electricity. Their use provides around 40% of the world's electricity and they are primarily used in developing countries. Coal gas - Substitute natural gas produced synthetically by the chemical reduction of coal at a coal gasification facility. Coal gasification - The process of converting coal into gas. The basic process involves crushing coal to a powder, which is then heated in the presence of steam and oxygen to produce a gas. The gas is then refined to reduce sulfur and other impurities. The gas can be used as a fuel or processed further and concentrated into chemical or liquid fuel. Coal grade - This classification refers to coal quality and application use. Coal (lignite) - Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat content. It has a carbon content around 60–70 percent. It is mined all around the world and is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steamelectric power generation Coal liquefaction - is a process of converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons: liquid fuels and petrochemicals. The conversion industry is commonly referred to as "coal conversion" or "Coal To X". "Coal to Liquid Fuels" is commonly 6 called "CTL" or "coal liquefaction", although "liquefaction" is generally used for a non-chemical process of becoming liquid. Coal rank - The classification of coals according to their degree of progressive alteration from lignite to anthracite. In the United States, the standard ranks of coal include lignite, sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal, and anthracite and are based on fixed carbon, volatile matter, heating value, and agglomerating (or caking) properties. Coal Seam Gas (CSG) – see Coalbed methane (CBM), and Hydraulic fracturing or fracking Coke (coal) - A solid carbonaceous residue derived from low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal from which the volatile constituents are driven off by baking in an oven at temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit so that the fixed carbon and residual ash are fused together. Coke is used as a fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Coke from coal is grey, hard, and porous and has a heating value of 24.8 million Btu per ton. Coke (petroleum) - A residue high in carbon content and low in hydrogen that is the final product of thermal decomposition in the condensation process in cracking. This product is reported as marketable coke or catalyst coke. The conversion is 5 barrels (of 42 U.S. gallons each) per short ton. Coking - Thermal refining processes used to produce fuel gas, gasoline blendstocks, distillates, and petroleum coke from the heavier products of atmospheric and vacuum distillation. Cold War (The) - was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. foreign policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. Colour revolution - (sometimes called the coloured revolution) or color revolution is a term that was widely used by worldwide media. To describe various related movements that developed in several societies in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans during the early 2000s. The term has also been applied to a number of revolutions elsewhere, including in the Middle East. Some observers (such as Justin Raimondo and Michael Lind) have called the events a revolutionary wave, the origins of which can be traced back to the 1986 People Power Revolution (also known as the "Yellow Revolution") in the Philippines. Participants in the colour revolutions have mostly used nonviolent resistance, also called civil resistance. Such methods as demonstrations, strikes and interventions have been intended protest against governments seen as corrupt and/or authoritarian, and to advocate democracy; and they have also created strong pressure for change. These movements generally adopted a specific colour or flower as their symbol. The colour revolutions are notable for the important role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and particularly student activists in organising creative non-violent resistance. When three colour revolutions in a row failed (Green Revolution in Iran, Black Revolution in Pakistan, Jasmin Revolution in Tunisa), they were rebranded as the Arab Spring. Combustion - Chemical oxidation accompanied by the generation of light and heat. Commodity price index - A commodity price index is a fixed-weight index or (weighted) average of selected commodity prices, which may be based on spot or futures prices. It is designed to be representative of the broad commodity asset class or a specific subset of commodities, such as energy or metals. It is an index that tracks a basket of commodities to measure their performance. These indexes are often traded on exchanges, allowing investors to gain easier access to commodities without having to enter the futures market. The value of these indexes fluctuates based on their underlying commodities, and this value can be traded on an exchange in much the same way as stock index futures. Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) - is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some element of the business, for example revenue, units delivered, registered users, etc. CAGR dampens the effect of volatility of periodic returns that can render arithmetic means irrelevant. It is particularly useful to compare growth rates from various data sets of common domain such as revenue growth of companies in the same 7 industry. CAGR is equivalent to the more generic exponential growth rate when the exponential growth interval is one year. Condensate - See Lease Condensate Confidence (Public) - is the trust bestowed by citizens based on demonstrations and expectations of: (1) Their go e e t s ability to provide for their common defence and economic security and behave consistent with the interests of society; and Thei iti al i f ast u tu es a ilit to p o ide p odu ts a d se i es at e pe ted le els and to behave consistent with their usto e s est i te ests. Continuity of government (COG) - is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of a catastrophic event such as nuclear war. COG was developed by the British government before and during World War II to counter threats, such as that of the Luftwaffe bombing during the Battle of Britain. The need for continuity-of-government plans gained new urgency with nuclear proliferation. During and after the Cold War countries developed such plans to avoid (or minimize) confusion and disorder due to a power vacuum in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. In the US at least, COG is no longer limited to nuclear emergencies; the Continuity of Operations Plan was activated following the September 11 attacks. Continuity of Operations (COOP) - is a United States federal government initiative, required by U.S. Presidential Policy Directive 40 (PPD-40), to ensure that agencies are able to continue performance of essential functions under a broad range of circumstances. PPD-40 specifies certain requirements for continuity plan development, including the requirement that all federal executive branch departments and agencies develop an integrated, overlapping continuity capability, that supports the 8 National Essential Functions (NEFs) described in PPD-40. The Federal Continuity Directive 1 (FCD 1) is a 2017 directive, released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that provides doctrine and guidance to all federal organizations for developing continuity program plans and capabilities. FCD 1 also serves as guidance to state, local, and tribal governments. The Federal Continuity Directive 2 (FCD 2) of July 2013 is a directive to assist federal Executive Branch organizations in identifying their Mission Essential Functions (MEFs) and candidate Primary Mission Essential Functions (PMEFs). The DHS together with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and in coordination with other non-federal partners in July 2013, developed the Continuity Guidance Circular 1 (CGC 1) and CGC 2. The preamble of the CGC 1 states that its function is to provide "direction to the non-Federal Governments (NFGs) for developing continuity plans and programs. Continuity planning facilitates the performance of essential functions during all-hazards emergencies or other situations that may disrupt normal operations. By continuing the performance of essential functions through a catastrophic emergency, the State, territorial, tribal, and local governments, and the private sector support the ability of the Federal Government to perform National Essential Functions (NEFs)." CGC 1 parallels the information in FCD 1 closely, but is geared to states, territories, tribal and local governments, and private-sector organizations. The purpose of Continuity Guidance Circular 2 (CGC 2) is to provide "non-Federal Governments (NFGs) with guidance on how to implement CGC 1, Annex D: ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS. It provides them with guidance, a methodology, and checklists to identify, assess, and validate their essential functions. This CGC includes guidance for conducting a continuity Business Process Analysis (BPA), Business Impact Analysis (BIA), and a risk assessment that will identify essential function relationships, interdependencies, time sensitivities, threats and vulnerabilities, and mitigation strategies." FEMA provides guidance to the private sector for business continuity planning purposes.[4] FEMA realizes that when business is disrupted, it can cost money, so a continuity plan is essential to help identify critical functions and develop preventative measures to continue functions should disruption occur. Conventional oil – is a term used to describe oil that can be produced (extracted from the ground) using traditional drilling methods. It is liquid at atmospheric temperature and pressure conditions, and therefore flows without additional stimulation. Conventional gas – refers to natural gas that can be produced from reservoirs using traditional drilling, pumping and compression techniques. 8 Consumer Price Index (CPI) -The CPI is a statistical estimate constructed using the prices of a sample of representative items whose prices are collected periodically. Sub-indices and sub-sub-indices are computed for different categories and sub-categories of goods and services, being combined to produce the overall index with weights reflecting their shares in the total of the consumer expenditures covered by the index. It is one of several price indices calculated by most national statistical agencies. The annual percentage change in a CPI is used as a measure of inflation. Cost neutral – Where the price–performance ratio (cost–performance or cost–benefit) is at unity. That is, the costs invested equal the costs returned. Cost of capital - The rate of return a utility must offer to obtain additional funds. The cost of capital varies with the leverage ratio, the effective income tax rate, conditions in the bond and stock markets, growth rate of the utility, its dividend strategy, stability of net income, the amount of new capital required, and other factors dealing with business and financial risks. It is a composite of the cost for debt interest, preferred stock dividends, and common stockholders' earnings that provide the facilities used in supplying utility service. Cost of debt - The interest rate paid on new increments of debt capital multiplied by 1 minus the tax rate. CPI - Consumer Price Index Credit default swap (CDS) - is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer (usually the creditor of the reference loan) in the event of a loan default (by the debtor) or other credit event. That is, the seller of the CDS insures the buyer against some reference loan defaulting. The buyer of the CDS makes a series of payments (the CDS "fee" or "spread") to the seller and, in exchange, receives a payoff if the loan defaults. It was invented by Blythe Masters from JP Morgan in 1994. In the event of default the buyer of the CDS receives compensation (usually the face value of the loan), and the seller of the CDS takes possession of the defaulted loan. However, anyone can purchase a CDS, even buyers who do not hold the loan instrument and who have no direct insurable interest in the loan (these are called "naked" CDS s ). If there are more CDS contracts outstanding than bonds in existence, a protocol exists to hold a credit event auction; the payment received is usually substantially less than the face value of the loan. Crude oil - A mixture of hydrocarbons that exists in liquid phase in natural underground reservoirs and remains liquid at atmospheric pressure after passing through surface separating facilities. Depending upon the characteristics of the crude stream, it may also include 1. Small amounts of hydrocarbons that exist in gaseous phase in natural underground reservoirs but are liquid at atmospheric pressure after being recovered from oil well (casing head) gas in lease separators and are subsequently comingled with the crude stream without being separately measured. Lease condensate recovered as a liquid from natural gas wells in lease or field separation facilities and later mixed into the crude stream is also included; 2. Small amounts of nonhydrocarbons produced with the oil, such as sulfur and various metals; 3. Drip gases, and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands, oil sands, gilsonite, and oil shale. Liquids produced at natural gas processing plants are excluded. Crude oil is refined to produce a wide array of petroleum products, including heating oils; gasoline, diesel and jet fuels; lubricants; asphalt; ethane, propane, and butane; and many other products used for their energy or chemical content. Crypto currency (or cyptocurrency) - is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency.[1] Cryptocurrencies are classified as a subset of digital currencies and are also classified as a subset of alternative currencies and virtual currencies. Bitcoin became the first decentralized cryptocurrency in 2009. Since then, numerous cryptocurrencies have been created. These are frequently called altcoins, as a blend of bitcoin alternative. Bitcoin and its derivatives use decentralized control as opposed to centralized electronic money/centralized banking systems. The decentralized control is related to the use of bitcoin's blockchain transaction database in the role of a distributed ledger. Cuban Missile Crisis (The)- , also known as the October Crisis, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day (October 16–28, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. In response to the failed 9 Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961 and the presence of American Jupiter ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to agree to Cuba's request to place nuclear missiles on the island to deter a future invasion. An agreement was reached during a secret meeting between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July 1962 and construction of a number of missile launch facilities started later that summer. The 1962 United States elections were under way, and the White House had denied charges that it was ignoring dangerous Soviet missiles 90 miles from Florida. The missile preparations were confirmed when an Air Force U-2 spy plane produced clear photographic evidence of medium-range (SS-4) and intermediate-range (R-14) ballistic missile facilities. The US established a military blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba. It announced that they would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the weapons already in Cuba be dismantled and returned to the Soviet Union. After a long period of tense negotiations, an agreement was reached between US President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev. Publicly, the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement to avoid invading Cuba again. Secretly, the United States also agreed that it would dismantle all U.S.-built Jupiter MRBMs, which had been deployed in Turkey and Italy against the Soviet Union. When all offensive missiles and Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba, the blockade was formally ended on November 21, 1962. The negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union pointed out the necessity of a quick, clear, and direct communication line between Washington and Moscow. Cut-off grade (uranium) - The lowest grade, in percent U3O8, of uranium ore at a minimum specified thickness that can be mined at a specified cost. Debt (financial) - Debt is an amount of money borrowed by one party from another. In this context, debt is the amount of money owed by a nation state or a corporation to a bank (being itself usually a private corporation). Debt Default - In finance, default is failure to meet the legal obligations (or conditions) of a loan, for example when a home buyer fails to make a mortgage payment, or when a corporation or government fails to pay a bond which has reached maturity. A national or sovereign default is the failure or refusal of a government to repay its national debt. The biggest private default in history is Lehman Brothers with over $600,000,000,000 when it filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and the biggest sovereign default is Greece with $138,000,000,000 in March 2012. Decommissioning - is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status. Shut down and asset stripping is part of decommissioning. Deep offshore drilling - is typically defined as drilling in a water depth that is greater than 500 feet (150 meters). In general, rigs drilling in this environment are drillships and semisubmersibles. Wells being drilled in deep offshore environments are typically extended reach and use cutting edge industry technology. Deepwater Horizon oil spill - (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the BP oil disaster, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Macondo blowout) began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. Killing eleven people, it is considered the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill. The US Government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3). After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on September 19, 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated the well site was still leaking. Deflation - In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below 0% (a negative inflation rate). Inflation reduces the real value of money over time; conversely, deflation increases the real value of money – the currency of a national or regional economy. This allows one to buy more goods and services than before with the same amount of money. Economists generally believe that deflation is a problem in a modern economy because it may increase the real value of debt, especially if the deflation was unexpected. Deflation may also aggravate recessions and lead to a deflationary spiral. Deflation is distinct from disinflation, a slow-down in the inflation rate, i.e. when inflation declines to a lower rate but is still positive. 10 Demand destruction (Economic destruction) – Demand destruction is a permanent downward shift on the demand curve in the direction of lower demand of a commodity, such as energy products, induced by a prolonged period of high prices or constrained supply. Derivatives - In finance, a derivative is a contract that derives its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, and is often simply called the "underlying".[1][2] Derivatives can be used for a number of purposes, including insuring against price movements (hedging), increasing exposure to price movements for speculation or getting access to otherwise hard-to-trade assets or markets.[3] Some of the more common derivatives include forwards, futures, options, swaps, and variations of these such as synthetic collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. Most derivatives are traded over-the-counter (off-exchange) or on an exchange such as the Bombay Stock Exchange, while most insurance contracts have developed into a separate industry. Derivatives are one of the three main categories of financial instruments, the other two being stocks (i.e., equities or shares) and debt (i.e., bonds and mortgages). Disinflation - is a decrease in the rate of inflation – a slowdown in the rate of increase of the general price level of goods and services in a nation's gross domestic product over time. It is the opposite of reflation. Disinflation occurs he the i ease i the o su e p i e le el slo s do f o the p e ious pe iod he the p i es e e isi g. Dotcom Bubble - The dot-com bubble (also known as the dot-com boom, the tech bubble, the Internet bubble, the dot-com collapse, and the information technology bubble) was a historic economic bubble and period of excessive speculation that occurred roughly from 1997 to 2001, a period of extreme growth in the usage and adaptation of the Internet by businesses and consumers. During this period, many Internet-based companies, commonly referred to as dot-coms, were founded, many of which failed. During 2000–2002, the bubble collapsed. Dry natural gas - Natural gas which remains after: 1) the liquefiable hydrocarbon portion has been removed from the gas stream (i.e., gas after lease, field, and/or plant separation); and 2) any volumes of nonhydrocarbon gases have been removed where they occur in sufficient quantity to render the gas unmarketable. Note: Dry natural gas is also known as consumer-grade natural gas. The parameters for measurement are cubic feet at 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.73 pounds per square inch absolute. Also see Natural gas. Dry natural gas production - The process of producing consumer-grade natural gas. Natural gas withdrawn from reservoirs is reduced by volumes used at the production (lease) site and by processing losses. Volumes used at the production site include (1) the volume returned to reservoirs in cycling, repressuring of oil reservoirs, and conservation operations; and (2) gas vented and flared. Processing losses include (1) nonhydrocarbon gases (e.g., water vapor, carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen) removed from the gas stream; and (2) gas converted to liquid form, such as lease condensate and plant liquids. Volumes of dry gas withdrawn from gas storage reservoirs are not considered part of production. Dry natural gas production equals marketed production less extraction loss. Economic bubble (or Asset bubble) - Sometimes also referred to as a speculative bubble, a market bubble, a price bubble, a financial bubble, a speculative mania, or a balloon. This is a trade in an asset at a price or price range that strongly exceeds the asset's intrinsic value. It could also be described as a situation in which asset prices appear to be based on implausible or inconsistent views about the future. Asset bubbles date back as far as the 1600s and are now widely regarded as a recurrent feature of modern economic history. Historically, the Dutch Golden Age's Tulipmania (in the mid-1630s) is often considered the first recorded economic bubble. Because it is often difficult to observe intrinsic values in real-life markets, bubbles are often conclusively identified only in retrospect, once a sudden drop in prices has occurred. Such a drop is known as a crash or a bubble burst. Both the boom and the burst phases of the bubble are examples of a positive feedback mechanism, in contrast to the negative feedback mechanism that determines the equilibrium price under normal market circumstances. Prices in an economic bubble can fluctuate erratically, and become impossible to predict from supply and demand alone. Economic stagnation - is a prolonged period of slow economic growth (traditionally measured in terms of the GDP growth), usually accompanied by high unemployment. 11 EIA - The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. EIA programs cover data on coal, petroleum, natural gas, electric, renewable and nuclear energy. EIA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. Electric power quality - or simply power quality, involves voltage, frequency, and waveform. Good power quality can be defined as a steady supply voltage that stays within the prescribed range, steady a.c. frequency close to the rated value, and smooth voltage curve waveform (resembles a sine wave). In general, it is useful to consider power quality as the compatibility between what comes out of an electric outlet and the load that is plugged into it. The term is used to describe electric power that drives an electrical load and the load's ability to function properly. Without the proper power, an electrical device (or load) may malfunction, fail prematurely or not operate at all. There are many ways in which electric power can be of poor quality and many more causes of such poor quality power. Electrical power grid - An electrical grid is an interconnected network for delivering electricity from producers to consumers. It consists of generating stations that produce electrical power, high voltage transmission lines that carry power from distant sources to demand centres, and distribution lines that connect individual customers. Power stations may be located near a fuel source, at a dam site, or to take advantage of renewable energy sources, and are often located away from heavily populated areas. They are usually quite large to take advantage of economies of scale. The electric power which is generated is stepped up to a higher voltage at which it connects to the electric power transmission network. Endosomatic energy - Ecological economists distinguish between 'endosomatic' and 'exosomatic' use of energy by humans. E e g f o i side the od is o side ed e doso ati . Inside the body, as food energy, adult humans spend per day between 1,500 and 2,500 kcal on average. A convenient number easy to remember is 2,400 kcal, equivalent to 10 MJ (megajoules). Energy - In physics, energy is the property that must be transferred to an object in order to perform work on – or to heat – the object, and can be converted in form, but not created or destroyed. The standard SI unit of energy is the joule, which is the energy transferred to an object by the mechanical work of moving it a distance of 1 metre against a force of 1 newton. Common energy forms include the kinetic energy of a moving object, the potential energy stored by an object's position in a force field (gravitational, electric or magnetic), the elastic energy stored by stretching solid objects, the chemical energy released when a fuel burns, the radiant energy carried by light, and the thermal energy due to an object's temperature. Mass and energy are closely related. Due to mass–energy equivalence, any object that has mass when stationary in a frame of reference (called rest mass) also has an equivalent amount of energy whose form is called rest energy in that frame, and any additional energy acquired by the object above that rest energy will increase an object's mass. For example, with a sensitive enough scale, one could measure an increase in mass after heating an object. Living organisms require available energy to stay alive, such as the energy humans get from food. Civilisation gets the energy it needs from energy resources such as fossil fuels, nuclear fuel, or renewable energy. The processes of Earth's climate and ecosystem are driven by the radiant energy Earth receives from the sun and the geothermal energy contained within the Earth. Energy consumed per capita - all energy needed as input to produce fuel and electricity for end-users, per person for a nation state or region. It is known as Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES), a term used to indicate the sum of production and imports subtracting exports and storage changes. Energy density - is the amount of energy stored in a given system or region of space per unit volume. Colloquially it may also be used for energy per unit mass, though the accurate term for this is specific energy. Often only the useful or extractable energy is measured, which is to say that inaccessible energy (such as rest mass energy) is ignored. Energy per unit volume has the same physical units as pressure, and in many circumstances is a synonym: for example, the energy density of a magnetic field may be expressed as (and behaves as) a physical pressure, and the energy required to compress a compressed gas a little more may be determined by multiplying the difference between the gas pressure and the external pressure by the change in volume. In short, pressure is a measure of the enthalpy per 12 unit volume of a system. A pressure gradient has the potential to perform work on the surroundings by converting enthalpy to work until equilibrium is reached. Energy returned on energy invested (ERoEI) - is the ratio of the amount of usable energy (the exergy) delivered from a particular energy resource to the amount of exergy used to obtain that energy resource. Environmental rehabilitation – see Land rehabilitation EU-28 - The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, and an estimated population of over 510 million. The European Union (EU) was established on 1 November 1993 with 12 Member States. Their number has grown to the present 28 through a series of enlargements. European Central Bank (ECB) - The European Central Bank (ECB; German: Europäische Zentralbank (EZB), French: Banque centrale européenne (BCE)) is the central bank for the euro and administers monetary policy of the eurozone, which consists of 19 EU member states and is one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is one of the world's most important central banks and is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) listed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states. The primary objective of the ECB, mandated in Article 2 of the Statute of the ECB, is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone. Its basic tasks, set out in Article 3 of the Statute, are to set and implement the monetary policy for the Eurozone, to conduct foreign exchange operations, to take care of the foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks and operation of the financial market infrastructure under the TARGET2 payments system. The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute, the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. The ECB is governed by European law directly, but its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital. Euro (€) - The eu o sig : €; ode: EU‘ is the offi ial u e of the eu ozo e, hi h o sists of of the e e states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries, as well as unilaterally by two others, and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans as of 2015. Excess reserves - In banking, excess reserves are bank reserves in excess of a reserve requirement set by a central bank. In the United States, bank reserves for a commercial bank are held in part as a credit balance in an account for the commercial bank at the applicable Federal Reserve Bank (FRB). This credit balance is not separated into separate "minimum reserves" and "excess reserves" accounts. The total amount of FRB credits held in all FRB accounts for all commercial banks, together with all currency and vault cash, form the M0 monetary base. Holding excess reserves has an opportunity cost if higher risk-adjusted interest can be earned by putting the funds elsewhere. For banks in the U.S. Federal Reserve System, this earning process is accomplished by a given bank by making short-term (usually overnight) loans on the federal funds market to another bank that may be short of its reserve requirements. Other banks may instead choose, however, to hold their excess reserves to facilitate upcoming transactions or to meet contractual clearing balance requirements. Exergy - In thermodynamics, the exergy (in older usage, available work and/or availability) of a system is the maximum useful work possible during a process that brings the system into equilibrium with a heat reservoir. ... After the system and surroundings reach equilibrium, the exergy is zero. Exosomatic energy - Ecological economists distinguish between 'endosomatic' and 'exosomatic' use of energy by humans. Energy from outside of the body is e oso ati . FAO Food Price Index (The) - is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities. It consists of the average of five commodity group price indices, weighted with the average export shares of each of the groups for 2002-2004. 13 Federal Reserve Bank (The) - A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The banks are jointly responsible for implementing the monetary policy set forth by the Federal Open Market Committee, and are divided as follows: • • • • • • Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Federal Reserve Bank of New York Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta • • • • • • Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Some banks also possess branches, with the whole system being headquartered at the Eccles Building in Washington, D.C. Fiat Currency - Fiat money is currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but it is not backed by a physical commodity. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand rather than the value of the material that the money is made of. Fiat Economy (The) - The part of the economy that is concerned with buying and selling on the financial markets. This includes trading of fiat currencies, derivate and trading of paper asset certificates as opposed to physical assets (for example, physical gold bullion vs. a paper certificate of ownership of gold stored in a bank vault). Financial or fiscal year - a year as reckoned for taxing or accounting purposes, for example the British tax year, reckoned from 6 April. Financial contagion - refers to "the spread of market disturbances – mostly on the downside – from one country to the other, a process observed through co-movements in exchange rates, stock prices, sovereign spreads, and capital flows". Financial contagion can be a potential risk for countries who are trying to integrate their financial system with international financial markets and institutions. It helps explain an economic crisis extending across neighbouring countries, or even regions. Financial contagion happens at both the international level and the domestic level. At the domestic level, usually the failure of a domestic bank or financial intermediary triggers transmission when it defaults on interbank liabilities and sells assets in a fire sale, thereby undermining confidence in similar banks. An example of this phenomenon is the subsequent turmoil in the United States financial markets. International financial contagion, which happens in both advanced economies and developing economies, is the transmission of financial crisis across financial markets for direct or indirect economies. However, under today's financial system, with the large volume of cash flow, such as hedge fund and cross-regional operation of large banks, financial contagion usually happens simultaneously both among domestic institutions and across countries. First Oil Shock/Crisis (1973) – The 1973 oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo occurred in response to United States' support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War. By the end of the embargo in March 1974, the price of oil had risen from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12 globally; US prices were significantly higher. The embargo caused an oil crisis, or "shock", with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and the global economy. It was later called the "first oil shock", followed by the 1979 oil crisis, termed the "second oil shock." Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) - A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct control. Fossil fuel power station - is a power station which burns fossil fuel such as coal, natural gas, or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation. In many countries, such plants provide most of the electrical energy used. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, which then operates an electrical generator. The prime mover 14 may be a steam turbine, a gas turbine or, in small plants, a reciprocating internal combustion engine. All plants use the energy extracted from expanding gas, either steam or combustion gases. Fossil water - or paleowater is an ancient body of water that has been contained in some undisturbed space, typically groundwater in an aquifer, for millennia. Other types of fossil water can include subglacial lakes, such as Antarctica's Lake Vostok, and even ancient water on other planets. UNESCO defines fossil groundwater as water that infiltrated usually millennia ago and often under climatic conditions different from the present, and that has been stored underground since that time. Many communities across the planet depend on fossilized water reserves for their livelihood. Fracking – See Hydraulic fracturing Fractional-reserve banking - is the practice whereby a bank accepts deposits, makes loans or investments, and holds reserves equal to a fraction of its deposit liabilities. Reserves are held as currency in the bank, or as balances in the bank's accounts at the central bank. Fractional-reserve banking is the current form of banking practiced in most countries worldwide. Fractional-reserve banking allows banks to act as financial intermediaries between borrowers and savers, and to provide longer-term loans to borrowers while providing immediate liquidity to depositors (providing the function of maturity transformation). However, a bank can experience a bank run if depositors wish to withdraw more funds than the reserves held by the bank. To mitigate the risks of bank runs and systemic crises (when problems are extreme and widespread), governments of most countries regulate and oversee commercial banks, provide deposit insurance and act as lender of last resort to commercial banks. French Revolution (The) - was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799, and was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire. The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics and liberal democracies. Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history. Fuel oil - A liquid petroleum product less volatile than gasoline, used as an energy source. Fuel oil includes distillate fuel oil, and residual fuel oil. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (The) - was an energy accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushi a, i itiated p i a il the tsu a i follo i g the Tōhoku earthquake on 11 March 2011. Immediately after the earthquake, the active reactors automatically shut down their sustained fission reactions. However, the tsunami disabled the emergency generators that would have provided power to control and operate the pumps necessary to cool the reactors. The insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen-air explosions, and the release of radioactive material in Units 1, 2, and 3 from 12 March to 15 March. Loss of cooling also caused the pool for storing spent fuel from Reactor 4 to overheat on 15 March due to the decay heat from the fuel rods. The Fukushima disaster was the most significant nuclear incident since April 26, 1986 the Chernobyl disaster and the second disaster to be given the Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event Scale. Though there have been no fatalities linked to radiation due to the accident, the eventual number of cancer deaths, according to the linear no-threshold theory of radiation safety, that will be caused by the accident is expected to be around 130–640 people in the years and decades ahead. Gas - A non-solid, non-liquid combustible energy source that includes natural gas, coke-oven gas, blast-furnace gas, and refinery gas. Gas Condensate Well Gas - Natural gas remaining after the removal of the lease condensate. Gas processing unit - A facility designed to recover natural gas liquids from a stream of natural gas that may or may not have passed through lease separators and/or field separation facilities. Another function of natural gas processing 15 plants is to control the quality of the processed natural gas stream. Cycling plants are considered natural gas processing plants. Gas flare - A gas flare, alternatively known as a flare stack, is a gas combustion device used in industrial plants such as petroleum refineries, chemical plants, and natural gas processing plants as well as at oil or gas production sites having oil wells, gas wells, offshore oil and gas rigs and landfills. In industrial plants, flare stacks are primarily used for burning off flammable gas released by pressure relief valves during unplanned over-pressuring of plant equipment. During plant or partial plant startups and shutdowns, flare stacks are also often used for the planned combustion of gases over relatively short periods. Gas flaring at many oil and gas production sites protects against the dangers of overpressuring industrial plant equipment. When petroleum crude oil is extracted and produced from onshore or offshore oil wells, raw natural gas associated with the oil is brought to the surface as well. Especially in areas of the world lacking pipelines and other gas transportation infrastructure, vast amounts of such associated gas are commonly flared as waste or unusable gas. Gas to liquids (GTL) - is a refinery process to convert natural gas or other gaseous hydrocarbons into longer-chain hydrocarbons, such as gasoline or diesel fuel. Methane-rich gases are converted into liquid synthetic fuels either via direct conversion—using non-catalytic processes that convert methane to methanol in one step—or via syngas as an intermediate, such as in the Fischer Tropsch, Mobil and syngas to gasoline plus processes. Gas turbine plant - A plant in which the prime mover is a gas turbine. A gas turbine consists typically of an axial-flow air compressor and one or more combustion chambers where liquid or gaseous fuel is burned and the hot gases are passed to the turbine and where the hot gases expand drive the generator and are then used to run the compressor. Gas well - A well completed for production of natural gas from one or more gas zones or reservoirs. Such wells contain no completions for the production of crude oil. Gas well productivity - Derived annually by dividing gross natural gas withdrawals from gas wells by the number of producing gas wells on December 31 and then dividing the quotient by the number of days in the year. Gasification - A method for converting coal, petroleum, biomass, wastes, or other carbon-containing materials into a gas that can be burned to generate power or processed into chemicals and fuels. Gasohol - A blend of finished motor gasoline containing alcohol (generally ethanol but sometimes methanol) at a concentration between 5.7 percent and 10 percent by volume. Also see Oxygenates. Gasoil - European and Asian designation for No. 2 heating oil and No. 2 diesel fuel. Gasoline blending components - Naphthas which will be used for blending or compounding into finished aviation or motor gasoline (e.g., straight-run gasoline, alkylate, reformate, benzene, toluene, andxylene). Excludes oxygenates (alcohols, ethers), butane, and pentanes plus. Gasoline grades - The classification of gasoline by octane ratings. Each type of gasoline (conventional, oxygenated, and reformulated) is classified by three grades - Regular, Midgrade, and Premium. Note: gasoline sales are reported by grade in accordance with their classification at the time of sale.    Regular gasoline - Gasoline having an antiknock index, i.e., octane rating, greater than or equal to 85 and less than 88. Note Octane requirements may vary by altitude. Midgrade gasoline - Gasoline having an antiknock index, i.e., octane rating, greater than or equal to 88 and less than or equal to 90. Note: Octane requirements may vary by altitude. Premium gasoline - Gasoline having an antiknock index, i.e., octane rating, greater than 90. Note: Octane requirements may vary by altitude. Gasoline motor, (leaded) - Contains more than 0.05 grams of lead per gallon or more than 0.005 grams of phosphorus per gallon. The actual lead content of any given gallon may vary. Premium and regular grades are included, depending on the octane rating. Includes leaded gasohol. Blendstock is excluded until blending has been completed. Alcohol that is to be used in the blending of gasohol is also excluded. 16 Gasoline treated as blendstock (GTAB) - Non-certified Foreign Refinery gasoline classified by an importer as blendstock to be either blended or reclassified with respect to reformulated or conventional gasoline. GTAB is classified as either reformulated or conventional quality based on emissions performance, formulation, and intended end use. Geographical marker - A geog aphi al a ke is a state e t that helps a s e the uestio , Whe e did this happe ? Ofte used as a a al ti al tool to o elate ausalit o help defi e the e iste e of a elatio ship et ee events associated with a geographic location. Geothermal power generation - is power generated by geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 24 countries, while geothermal heating is in use in 70 countries. As of 2015, worldwide geothermal power capacity amounts to 12.8 gigawatts (GW), of which 28 percent or 3,548 megawatts are installed in the United States. International markets grew at an average annual rate of 5 percent over the last three years and global geothermal power capacity is expected to reach 14.5–17.6 GW by 2020. Based on current geologic knowledge and technology, the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) estimates that only 6.5 percent of total global potential has been tapped so far, while the IPCC reported geothermal power potential to be in the range of 35 GW to 2 TW. Countries generating more than 15 percent of their electricity from geothermal sources include El Salvador, Kenya, the Philippines, Iceland and Costa Rica. Geothermal power is considered to be a sustainable, renewable source of energy because the heat extraction is small compared with the Earth's heat content. GFC of 2008 - The 2008 Global Financial Crisis was the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression of 1929. The root cause has been traced to no one single event or reason. Financial turbulence started in the United States but quickly became global in scope. Rather, it was the result of a sequence of events, each with its own triggering e ha is that led to ea ollapse of the a ki g s ste . Ofte efe ed to as The G eat ‘e essio . Global Financial Crisis (GFC) – A worldwide period of economic difficulty experienced by markets and consumers. A global financial crisis is a difficult business environment to succeed in since potential consumers tend to reduce their purchases of goods and services until the economic situation improves. Global Reserve Currency - In the foreign exchange market and international finance, a world currency, supranational currency, or global currency refers to a currency that is transacted internationally, with no set borders. In the period following the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, exchange rates around the world were pegged to the United States dollar, which could be exchanged for a fixed amount of gold. This reinforced the dominance of the US dollar as a global currency. Since the collapse of the fixed exchange rate regime and the gold standard and the institution of floating exchange rates following the Smithsonian Agreement in 1971, most currencies around the world have no longer been pegged to the United States dollar. Ho e e , as the U ited “tates has the o ld s la gest e o o , ost i te atio al transactions continue to be conducted with the United States dollar, and it has remained the de facto world currency. This state of affairs has been facilitated by Saudi Arabia pricing all its oil contracts in $USD, forming the petrodollar. Gold standard (The) - is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. Three types can be distinguished: specie, bullion, and exchange.    In the gold specie standard the monetary unit is associated with the value of circulating gold coins, or the monetary unit has the value of a certain circulating gold coin, but other coins may be made of less valuable metal. The gold bullion standard is a system in which gold coins do not circulate, but the authorities agree to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price in exchange for the circulating currency. The gold exchange standard usually does not involve the circulation of gold coins. The main feature of the gold exchange standard is that the government guarantees a fixed exchange rate to the currency of another country that uses a gold standard (specie or bullion), regardless of what type of notes or coins are used as a means of exchange. This creates a de facto gold standard, where the value of the means of exchange has a fixed external value in terms of gold that is independent of the inherent value of the means of exchange itself. 17 Most nations abandoned the gold standard as the basis of their monetary systems at some point in the 20th century, although many hold substantial gold reserves. Great Depression (The) - The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; in most countries it started in 1929 and lasted until 1941. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a major fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday). Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) fell by an estimated 15%. By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession (GFC). Greenhouse gases - Those gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride, that are transparent to solar (short-wave) radiation but opaque to long-wave (infrared) radiation, thus preventing long-wave radiant energy from leaving Earth's atmosphere. The net effect is a trapping of absorbed radiation and a tendency to warm the planet's surface. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - GDP is the total value of everything produced by all the people and companies in the nation state. Gulf of Mexico oil spill - See Deepwater Horizon oil spill Heating value (natural gas) - The average number of British thermal units per cubic foot of natural gas as determined from tests of fuel samples. Heavy gas oil - Petroleum distillates with an approximate boiling range from 651 degrees Fahrenheit to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. Heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) - is highly-viscous oil that cannot easily flow to production wells under normal reservoir conditions. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light crude oil. Heavy crude oil has been defined as any liquid petroleum with an API gravity less than 20°. Physical properties that differ between heavy crude oils and lighter grades include higher viscosity and specific gravity, as well as heavier molecular composition. In 2010, the World Energy Council defined extra heavy oil as crude oil having a gravity of less than 10° and a reservoir viscosity of no more than 10,000 centipoises. When reservoir viscosity measurements are not available, extra-heavy oil is considered by the WEC to have a lower limit of 4° °API. In other words, oil with a density greater than 1000 kg/m3 or, equivalently, and a specific gravity greater than 1 and a reservoir viscosity of no more than 10,000 centipoises. Heavy oils and asphalt are dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). They have a "low solubility and are with viscosity lower and density higher than water." "Large spills of DNAPL will quickly penetrate the full depth of the aquifer and accumulate on its bottom." Heavy industry - is industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, and huge buildings); or complex or numerous processes. House of Saud - The House of Saud (Arabic: ‫ س عود آل‬Āl “aʻūd IPA: [ æːl sa uːd]) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. The family has thousands of members. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1744 - 1818), and his brothers, though the ruling faction of the family is primarily led by the descendants of Ibn Saud, the modern founder of Saudi Arabia. The family is estimated to comprise 15,000 members, but the majority of the power and wealth is possessed by a group of only about 2,000 people. Hubbert peak (The) - theory says that for any given geographical area, from an individual oil-producing region to the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum production tends to follow a bell-shaped curve. It is one of the primary theories on peak oil. Choosing a particular curve determines a point of maximum production based on discovery rates, production rates and cumulative production. Early in the curve (pre-peak), the production rate increases due to the 18 discovery rate and the addition of infrastructure. Late in the curve (post-peak), production declines because of resource depletion. Hubbert curve - In 1956, Hubbert proposed that fossil fuel production in a given region over time would follow a roughly bell-shaped curve without giving a precise formula; he later used the Hubbert curve, the derivative of the logistic curve, for estimating future production using past observed discoveries. Hubbert assumed that after fossil fuel reserves (oil reserves, coal reserves, and natural gas reserves) are discovered, production at first increases approximately exponentially, as more extraction commences and more efficient facilities are installed. At some point, a peak output is reached, and production begins declining until it approximates an exponential decline. The Hubbert curve satisfies these constraints. Furthermore, it is roughly symmetrical, with the peak of production reached when about half of the fossil fuel that will ultimately be produced has been produced. It also has a single peak. Hydrocarbon Gas Liquids - Natural gas and crude oil are mixtures of different hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are molecules of carbon and hydrogen in various combinations. Hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) are hydrocarbons that occur as gases at atmospheric pressure and as liquids under higher pressures. HGL can also be liquefied by cooling. The specific pressures and temperatures at which the gases liquefy vary by the type of HGL. HGL may be described as being light or heavy according to the number of carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms in an HGL molecule. Hydraulic fracturing (also fracking, fraccing, frac'ing, hydrofracturing or hydrofracking) - is a well stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of 'fracking fluid' (primarily water, containing sand or other proppants suspended with the aid of thickening agents) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely. When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants (either sand or aluminium oxide) hold the fractures open. Used in tight oil formations. Hyperinflation - In economics, hyperinflation occurs when a country experiences very high and usually accelerating rates of inflation, rapidly eroding the real value of the local currency, and causing the population to minimize their holdings of local money. The population normally switches to holding relatively stable foreign currencies. Under such conditions, the general price level within an economy increases rapidly as the official currency quickly loses real value. The value of economic items remains relatively stable in terms of foreign currencies. Unlike low inflation, where the process of rising prices is protracted and not generally noticeable except by studying past market prices, hyperinflation sees a rapid and continuing increase in nominal prices, the nominal cost of goods, and in the supply of money. Typically, however, the general price level rises even more rapidly than the money supply as people try ridding themselves of the devaluing currency as quickly as possible. As this scenario happens, the real stock of money (i.e., the amount of circulating money divided by the price level) decreases. International Energy Agency (IEA) - (French: Agence internationale de l'énergie) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. The IEA was initially dedicated to responding to physical disruptions in the supply of oil, as well as serving as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energy sectors. The IEA acts as a policy adviser to its member states, but also works with nonmember countries, especially China, India, and Russia. The Agency's mandate has broadened to focus on the "3Es" of effectual energy policy: energy security, economic development, and environmental protection. Industrial grid (The) – an informal term that describes the interconnecting and interdependent network of industrial facilities. Ranging from power generation to manufacture to raw material processing, all connected by networks like the electrical power grid, Just in Time Supply of goods, potable water and waste removal. Industrial Production Index (IPI) – The industrial production index (abbreviated IPI and sometimes also called industrial output index or industrial volume index) is a business cycle indicator which measures monthly changes in the price-adjusted output of industry. This report uses the industrial production index as it is calculated in the European Union (EU-28). The Industrial Production Index (IPI) is also an economic indicator published by the Federal Reserve Board of the United States that measures the real production output of manufacturing, mining, and utilities. It is not clear if both the EU and the US use exactly the same method of calculation. 19 Industrial Revolution (The) - was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the factory system. Textiles were the dominant industry of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of output and capital invested; the textile industry was also the first to use modern production methods. Inflation - In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy. A chief measure of price inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index, usually the consumer price index, over time. The opposite of inflation is deflation. Insolvency - is the state of being unable to pay the money owed, by a person or company, on time; those in a state of insolvency are said to be insolvent. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet insolvency.   Cash-flow insolvency is when a person or company has enough assets to pay what is owed, but does not have the appropriate form of payment. For example, a person may own a large house and a valuable car, but not have enough liquid assets to pay a debt when it falls due. Cash-flow insolvency can usually be resolved by negotiation. For example, the bill collector may wait until the car is sold and the debtor agrees to pay a penalty. Balance-sheet insolvency is when a person or company does not have enough assets to pay all of their debts. The person or company might enter bankruptcy, but not necessarily. Once a loss is accepted by all parties, negotiation is often able to resolve the situation without bankruptcy. A company that is balance-sheet insolvent may still have enough cash to pay its next bill on time. However, most laws will not let the company pay that bill unless it will directly help all their creditors. For example, an insolvent farmer may be allowed to hire people to help harvest the crop, because not harvesting and selling the crop would be worse for his creditors. Installed power – See Name plate capacity. Internal combustion engine (ICE) - is a heat engine where the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine the expansion of the high-temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine. The force is applied typically to pistons, turbine blades, rotor or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance, transforming chemical energy into useful mechanical energy. Automobiles and trucks use internal combustion engines powered by mostly petroleum products or sometimes gas. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organisation on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations through its own international treaty, the IAEA Statute, the IAEA reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council. The IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide. The programs of the IAEA encourage the development of the peaceful applications of nuclear technology, provide international safeguards against misuse of nuclear technology and nuclear materials, and promote nuclear safety (including radiation protection) and nuclear security standards and their implementation. International Monetary Fund (IMF) - is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., of "189 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world." Formed in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference primarily by the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international payment system. 20 It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016, the fund had SDR477 billion (about $668 billion). IOC – International oil companies. The 20 largest oil & gas companies ranked in order of size: Saudi Aramco, Sinopec, China National Petroleum Corporation, PetroChina, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, BP, Total SA, Lukoil, Eni, Valero Energy, Petrobras, Chevron Corporation, PDVSA, Pemex, National Iranian Oil, Gazprom, Petronas, China National Offshore Oil. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS ), Islamic State (IS), and by its Arabic language acronym Daesh, is an Arabic Salafi jihadist militant group and unrecognised proto-state that follows a fundamentalist, Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. ISIL gained global prominence in early 2014 when it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive, followed by its capture of Mosul and the Sinjar massacre. Just-in-time supply – The supply chain and supply networks of retail demand is delivered with as little lag time as possible. Thus orders for goods can be submitted just as those goods arrive to the point of sale from the supply network. This makes for an efficient business practice when the supply network is operating without bottlenecks and quoted delivery times match reality. This system has poor resilience when something unforeseen happens like a natural disaster or the market experiences a Black Swan event. Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing - also known as just-in-time production or the Toyota Production System (TPS), is a methodology aimed primarily at reducing flow times within production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers. Kerogen (oil) - is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks. It is insoluble in normal organic solvents because of the high molecular weight (upwards of 1,000 daltons or 1000 Da; 1Da= 1 atomic mass unit) of its component compounds. The soluble portion is known as bitumen. When heated to the right temperatures in the Earth's crust, (oil window c. 50–150 °C, gas window c. 150–200 °C, both depending on how quickly the source rock is heated) some types of kerogen release crude oil or natural gas, collectively known as hydrocarbons (fossil fuels). When such kerogens are present in high concentration in rocks such as shale, they form possible source rocks. Shales rich in kerogens that have not been heated to a warmer temperature to release their hydrocarbons may form oil shale deposits. Koyoto Protocol - is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (a) global warming is occurring and (b) it is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997 and entered into force on February 16, 2005. Land rehabilitation (or Environmental rehabilitation) - is the process of returning the land in a given area to some degree of its former state, after some process (industry, natural disasters, etc.) has resulted in its damage. Many projects and developments will result in the land becoming degraded, for example mining, farming and forestry. Landfill gas - Gas that is generated by decomposition of organic material at landfill disposal sites. The average composition of landfill gas is approximately 50 percent methane and 50 percent carbon dioxide and water vapor by volume. The methane percentage, however, can vary from 40 to 60 percent, depending on several factors including waste composition (e.g. carbohydrate and cellulose content). The methane in landfill gas may be vented, flared, combusted to generate electricity or useful thermal energy on-site, or injected into a pipeline for combustion off-site. Lb - Unit of mass the Pound Lease Condensate - Light liquid hydrocarbons recovered from lease separators or field facilities at associated and nonassociated natural gas wells. Mostly pentanes and heavier hydrocarbons. Normally enters the crude oil stream after production. 21 Liquid fuels - All petroleum including crude oil and products of petroleum refining, natural gas liquids, biofuels, and liquids derived from other hydrocarbon sources (including coal to liquids and gas to liquids). Not included are liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid hydrogen. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) - Natural gas (primarily methane) that has been liquefied by reducing its temperature to 260 degrees Fahrenheit at atmospheric pressure. Liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) - A group of hydrocarbon gases, primarily propane, normal butane, and isobutane, derived from crude oil refining or natural gas processing. These gases may be marketed individually or mixed. They can be liquefied through pressurization (without requiring cryogenic refrigeration) for convenience of transportation or storage. Excludes ethane and olefins. Note: In some EIA publications, LPG includes ethane and marketed refinery olefin streams, in accordance with definitions used prior to January 2014. Low Btu gas - A fuel gas with a heating value between 90 and 200 Btu per cubic foot. LTO - light tight oil, abbreviated LTO, known also as tight oil or shale oil. Manufactured gas - A gas obtained by destructive distillation of coal or by the thermal decomposition of oil, or by the reaction of steam passing through a bed of heated coal or coke. Examples are coal gases, coke oven gases, producer gas, blast furnace gas, blue (water) gas, carburetted water gas. Btu content varies widely. Mine rehabilitation - Modern mine rehabilitation aims to minimize and mitigate the environmental effects of modern mining, which may in the case of open pit mining involve movement of significant volumes of rock. Rehabilitation management is an ongoing process, often resulting in open pit mines being backfilled. After mining finishes, the mine area must undergo rehabilitation. Most natural energy resources can be examined in this fashion at the end of their extraction life. Monterey shale oil reserves - The Monterey Formation is an extensive Miocene oil-rich geological sedimentary formation in California, with outcrops of the formation in parts of the California Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and on some of California's off-shore islands. The formation is the major source-rock for 37 to 38 billion barrels of oil in conventional traps such as sandstones. This is most of California's known oil resources. The Monterey has been extensively investigated and mapped for petroleum potential, and is of major importance for understanding the complex geological history of California. Its rocks are mostly highly siliceous strata that vary greatly in composition, stratigraphy, and tectono-stratigraphic history. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated in 2014 that the 1,750 square mile Monterey Formation could yield about 600 million barrels of oil, from tight oil contained in the formation, down sharply from their 2011 estimate of a potential 15.4 billion barrels. An independent review by the California Council on Science and Technology found both of these estimates to be "highly uncertain." Despite intense industry efforts, there has been little success to date (2013) in producing Monterey-hosted tight oil/shale oil, except in places where it is already naturally fractured, and it may be many years, if ever, before the Monterey becomes a significant producer of shale oil. Motor gasoline (finished) - A complex mixture of relatively volatile hydrocarbons with or without small quantities of additives, blended to form a fuel suitable for use in spark-ignition engines. Motor gasoline, as defined in ASTM Specification D 4814 or Federal Specification VV-G-1690C, is characterized as having a boiling range of 122 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10 percent recovery point to 365 to 374 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90 percent recovery point. Motor gasoline includes conventional gasoline; all types of oxygenated gasoline, including gasohol; and reformulated gasoline, but excludes aviation gasoline. Note: Volumetric data on blending components, such as oxygenates, are not counted in data on finished motor gasoline until the blending components are blended into the gasoline. MOX (Nuclear fuel) - Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors that predominate nuclear power generation. For example, a mixture of 7% plutonium and 93% natural uranium reacts similarly, although not identically, to LEU fuel. MOX usually consists of two phases, UO2 and PuO2, and/or a single 22 phase solid solution (U,Pu)O2. The content of PuO2 may vary from 1.5 wt.% to 25–30 wt.% depending on the type of nuclear reactor. Although MOX fuel can be used in thermal reactors to provide energy, efficient fission of plutonium in MOX can only be achieved in fast reactors. One attraction of MOX fuel is that it is a way of utilizing surplus weaponsgrade plutonium, an alternative to storage of surplus plutonium, which would need to be secured against the risk of theft for use in nuclear weapons. Mtoe - The tonne of oil equivalent (toe) is a unit of energy defined as the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil. It is approximately 42 gigajoules or 11,630 kilowatt hours, although as different crude oils have different calorific values, the exact value is defined by convention; several slightly different definitions exist. The toe is sometimes used for large amounts of energy. Multiples of the toe are used, in particular the megatoe (Mtoe, one million toe) and the gigatoe (Gtoe, one billion toe). A smaller unit of kilogram of oil equivalent (kgoe) is also sometimes used denoting 1/1000 toe. Multifactor Productivity Index (MFP) - Reflects the overall efficiency with which labour and capital inputs are used together in the production process. Changes in MFP reflect the effects of changes in management practices, brand names, organizational change, general knowledge, network effects, spillovers from production factors, adjustment costs, economies of scale, the effects of imperfect competition and measurement errors. Growth in MFP is measured as a residual, i.e. that part of GDP growth that cannot be explained by changes in labour and capital inputs. In simple terms therefore, if labour and capital inputs remained unchanged between two periods, any changes in output would reflect changes in MFP. This indicator is measured as an index and in annual growth rates. Nameplate capacity - also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power plant, a chemical plant, fuel plant, metal refinery, mine, and many others. Nameplate capacity is the number registered with authorities for classifying the power output of a power station usually expressed in megawatts (MW). Power plants with an output consistently near their nameplate capacity have a high capacity factor. Native gas - Gas in place at the time that a reservoir was converted to use as an underground storage reservoir in contrast to injected gas volumes. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) - also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European states based on the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. Three NATO members (the United States, France and the United Kingdom) are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclearweapon states. NATO Headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium. Natural gas - A gaseous mixture of hydrocarbon compounds, the primary one being methane. Natural gas field facility - A field facility designed to process natural gas produced from more than one lease for the purpose of recovering condensate from a stream of natural gas; however, some field facilities are designed to recover propane, normal butane, pentanes plus, etc., and to control the quality of natural gas to be marketed. Natural gas gross withdrawals - Full well-stream volume of produced natural gas, excluding condensate separated at the lease. Natural gas hydrates - Solid, crystalline, wax-like substances composed of water, methane, methane clathrate, and usually a small amount of other gases, with the gases being trapped in the interstices of a water-ice lattice. They form beneath permafrost and on the ocean floor under conditions of moderately high pressure and at temperatures near the freezing point of water. Natural gas lease production - Gross withdrawals of natural gas minus gas production injected on the lease into producing reservoirs, vented, flared, used as fuel on the lease, and nonhydrocarbon gases removed in treating or processing operations on the lease. 23 Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) - A group of hydrocarbons including ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline. Generally include natural gas plant liquids and all liquefied refinery gases except olefins. Natural gas liquids production - The volume of natural gas liquids removed from natural gas in lease separators, field facilities, gas processing plants, or cycling plants during the report year. Natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) - Butane, ethane, pentanes, propane and other non-methane components of raw natural gas. Those hydrocarbons in natural gas that are separated as liquids at natural gas processing, fractionating, and cycling plants. Products obtained include ethane, liquefied petroleum gases (propane, normal butane, and isobutane), and natural gasoline. Component products may be fractionated or mixed. Lease condensate and plant condensate are excluded. Note: Some EIA publications categorize NGPL production as field production, in accordance with definitions used prior to January 2014. Natural resources - are resources that exist without actions of humankind. They are part of and are found in the natural environment. For example a coal or copper deposit found in the ea th s crust. Net Energy Cliff (The) – On a chart plot of "Energy available for consumption" (y axis) vs "ERoEI" (x axis). The net available energy to society follows a negative exponential curve. As society approaches the bend in the curve, available energy gradient becomes quite steep very quickly. Much like falling off a cliff. Net energy yield - The net energy yield of the resource, which is the difference between the energy inputs required to produce the resource and the energy contained in the final product. The net energy, or e e g eturned on energy i ested E‘oEI), of unconventional resources is generally much lower than for conventional resources. Lower EROEI translates to higher production costs, lower production rates, and usually more collateral environmental damage in extraction. Net Hubbert Curve (The) – The traditional Hubbert curve is corrected for ERoEI of each of the oil resources, where the easy to extract and process resources are used first. The outcome is a skewed distribution for net available energy to do useful physical work. Calculated with the formula: Net Energy = Gross Energy * ((ERoEI – 1)/ ERoEI) Non-renewable resource (also called a finite resource) - is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames. An example is carbon-based, organicallyderived fuel. The original organic material, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas. Earth minerals and metal ores, fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas) and groundwater in certain aquifers are all considered non-renewable resources, though individual elements are almost always conserved. Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) - is an intergovernmental agency that is organized under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Originally formed on 1 February 1958 with the name European Nuclear Energy Agency (ENEA) (the United States participated as an Associate Member), the name was changed on 20 April 1972 to its current name after Japan became a member. The mission of the NEA is to "assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for the safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes." Nuclear Power Generation - is the use of nuclear reactions that release nuclear energy to generate heat, which most frequently is then used in steam turbines to produce electricity in a nuclear power plant. The term includes nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion. Presently, the nuclear fission of elements in the actinide series of the periodic table produce the vast majority of nuclear energy in the direct service electricity generation, with nuclear decay processes, primarily in the form of geothermal energy, and radioisotope thermoelectric generators, in niche uses making up the rest. Nuclear fission - In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is either a nuclear reaction or a radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts (lighter nuclei). The fission process often produces free neutrons and gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radioactive decay. 24 Nuclear fuel - is a substance that is used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile elements that are capable of nuclear fission, such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239. When the unstable nuclei of these atoms are hit by a slowmoving neutron, they split, creating two daughter nuclei and two or three more neutrons. These neutrons then go on to split more nuclei. This creates a self-sustaining chain reaction that is controlled in a nuclear reactor, or uncontrolled in a nuclear weapon. The processes involved in mining, refining, purifying, using, and disposing of nuclear fuel are collectively known as the nuclear fuel cycle. Not all types of nuclear fuels create power from nuclear fission; plutonium-238 and some other elements are used to produce small amounts of nuclear power by radioactive decay in radioisotope thermoelectric generators and other types of atomic batteries. Nuclear fuel has the highest energy density of all practical fuel sources. Nuclear fusion - In nuclear physics, nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei come close enough to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the products and reactants is manifested as the release of large amounts of energy. This difference in mass arises due to the difference in atomic "binding energy" between the atomic nuclei before and after the reaction. Fusion is the process that powers active or "main sequence" stars, or other high magnitude stars. The fusion process that produces a nucleus lighter than iron-56 or nickel-62 will generally yield a net energy release. These elements have the smallest mass per nucleon and the largest binding energy per nucleon, respectively. Fusion of light elements toward these releases energy (an exothermic process), while a fusion producing nuclei heavier than these elements, will result in energy retained by the resulting nucleons, and the resulting reaction is endothermic. The opposite is true for the reverse process, nuclear fission. This means that the lighter elements, such as hydrogen and helium, are in general more fusible; while the heavier elements, such as uranium and plutonium, are more fissionable. The extreme astrophysical event of a supernova can produce enough energy to fuse nuclei into elements heavier than iron. Nuclear reactors generations of evolution - The nuclear power industry has been developing and improving reactor technology for more than five decades. Several generations of reactors are commonly distinguished. 1 - Generation I: Reactors were developed in 1950-60s and very few are still running today. They have been efe ed to as ea l p otot pi ea to s . 2 - Generation II: De eloped i id s, a ti e safet s ste as ofte ei g used i this ge e atio s reactors. The safety system involves electrical or mechanical operation on command, which means they are activated by human controllers and cannot operate if electrical power systems are shut down. About 90% of nuclear power plants operating today employ Generation II technology. Many of them have incorporated some passive or inherent safety features requiring no active controls or operational intervention for accidents avoidance in the event of malfunction, and may rely on gravity, natural convection or resistance to high temperatures. 3 - Generation III: Advanced Reactors developed in Mid-1990s, their designs incorporate further passive safety systems which is to increase reactor safety by operating without human intervention or electrical power. European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) and the Westinghouse Advanced Plant 1000 (AP1000) pressurised water reactor belong to this group. 4 - Generation IV: Designs of this type of reactors are still on the drawing board and will not be operational before 2020 at the earliest, and probably later. They will tend to have closed fuel cycles and burn the longlived actinides now forming part of spent fuel, so that fission products are the only high-level waste and the time taken for its radioactivity to fall to a safe level will be far shorter. Many designs will be fast neutron reactors. Oil refinery (or petroleum refinery) - is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful products such as petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas. 25 Oil reservoir - An underground pool of liquid consisting of hydrocarbons, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen trapped within a geological formation and protected from evaporation by the overlying mineral strata. Oil sands - based synthetic crudes and derivative products, also known as tar sands, or more technically bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, saturated with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen (or colloquially as tar due to its superficially similar appearance). Oil stocks - oil stocks include crude oil (including strategic reserves), unfinished oils, natural gas plant liquids, and refined petroleum products. Oil bearing shale - is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil (not to be confused with tight oil—crude oil occurring naturally in shales) can be produced. Shale oil is a substitute for conventional crude oil; however, extracting shale oil from oil shale is more costly than the production of conventional crude oil both financially and in terms of its environmental impact. Oil well - A well completed for the production of crude oil from at least one oil zone or reservoir. Onshore or land base drilling - is defined as drilling with rigs that are moved in by ground transportation and the drilling site is not over water. Many of these wells are now being drilled using a technique called pad drilling where multiple wells are drilled from the same site in very close proximity of each other by shifting the rig slightly. Typically, these are mature fields, pushing the drilling envelope farther to more challenging well formations like new shale fields or very deep wells. OPEC - Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization of 14 nations as of May 2017, founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela), and headquartered since 1965 in Vienna. As of 2016, the 14 countries accounted for an estimated 44 percent of global oil production and 73 percent of the world's "proven" oil reserves, giving OPEC a major influence on global oil prices that were previously determined by American-dominated multinational oil companies. OPEC's stated mission is "to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its member countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets, in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers, and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry." OPEX - An operating expense, operating expenditure, operational expense, operational expenditure or OPEX is an ongoing cost for running a product, business, or system. Panic of 1907 (also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis) – was a United States financial crisis that took place over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. The 1907 panic eventually spread throughout the nation when many state and local banks and businesses entered bankruptcy. Primary causes of the run included a retraction of market liquidity by a number of New York City banks and a loss of confidence among depositors, exacerbated by unregulated side bets at bucket shops. The panic was triggered by the failed attempt in October 1907 to corner the market on stock of the United Copper Company. When this bid failed, banks that had lent money to the cornering scheme suffered runs that later spread to affiliated banks and trusts, leading a week later to the downfall of the Knickerbocker Trust Company—New York City's third-largest trust. The collapse of the Knickerbocker spread fear throughout the city's trusts as regional banks withdrew reserves from New York City banks. Panic extended across the nation as vast numbers of people withdrew deposits from their regional banks. Peak Gas - According to M. King Hubbert's Hubbert peak theory, Peak gas is the point in time at which the maximum global natural gas (fossil gas) production rate will be reached, after which the rate of production will enter its terminal decline. Natural gas is a fossil fuel formed from plant matter over the course of millions of years. It is a finite resource and thus considered to be a non-renewable energy source. 26 Peak Oil - an event based on M. King Hubbert's theory, is the point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which it is expected to enter terminal decline.[1] Peak oil theory is based on the observed rise, peak, fall, and depletion of aggregate production rate in oil fields over time. It is often confused with oil depletion; however, peak oil is the point of maximum production, while depletion refers to a period of falling reserves and supply. Peak Coal – The term Peak coal is used to refer to the point in time at which coal production and consumption reaches its maximum, after which, it is assumed, production and consumption will decline steadily. The term was originally used in connection with M. King Hubbert's Hubbert peak theory, in which the finite nature of the resource determines a constraint on production. Peak Uranium - is the point in time that the maximum global uranium production rate is reached. After that peak, according to Hubbert peak theory, the rate of production enters a terminal decline. While uranium is used in nuclear weapons, its primary use is for energy generation via nuclear fission of the uranium-235 isotope in a nuclear power reactor. Each kilogram of uranium-235 fissioned releases the energy equivalent of millions of times its mass in chemical reactants, as much energy as 2700 tons of coal, but uranium-235 is only 0.7% of the mass of natural uranium. Uranium-235 is a finite non-renewable resource. Per capita - The phrase in Latin means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e., per individual/person. The term is used in a wide variety of social sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistics, economic indicators, and built environment studies. It is commonly and usually used in the field of statistics in place of saying "per person" Pennsylvania oil rush (The) - was a boom in petroleum production which occurred in north western Pennsylvania from 1859 to the early 1870s. It was the first oil boom in the United States. The oil rush began in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in the Oil Creek Valley when Colonel Edwin L. Drake struck "rock oil" there. Titusville and other towns on the shores of Oil Creek expanded rapidly as oil wells and refineries shot up across the region. Oil quickly became one of the most valuable commodities in the United States and railroads expanded into Western Pennsylvania to ship petroleum to the rest of the country. By the mid-1870s, the oil industry was well established, and the "rush" to drill wells and control production was over. Pennsylvania oil production peaked in 1891, and was later surpassed by western states such as Texas and California, but some oil industry remains in Pennsylvania. Petrodollar (The) – Petrodollar recycling is the international spending or investment of a country's revenues from petroleum exports ("petrodollars"). It generally refers to the phenomenon of major petroleum-exporting nations, mainly the OPEC members plus Russia and Norway, earning more money from the export of crude oil than they could efficiently invest in their own economies. The resulting global interdependencies and financial flows, from oil producers back to oil consumers, can reach a scale of hundreds of billions of US dollars per year – including a wide range of transactions in a variety of currencies, some pegged to the US dollar and some not. These flows are heavily influenced by government-level decisions regarding international investment and aid, with important consequences for both global finance and petroleum politics. The phenomenon is most pronounced during periods when the price of oil is historically high. The first major petrodollar surge (1974–1981) resulted in more financial complications than the second (2005–2014). These OPEC countries were advised on how to invest their surpluses by Western investment bankers and subsequently signed contracts with the U.S. on military bases, large arms deals, military training and cooperation on governmental and economic levels. Their governments' dependency on U.S. specialists remains unchanged to the present day. An agreement was made between the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia to price all oil they control in $US dollars, making the $USD the petrodollar and over time, the world reserve currency. In exchange for this, the United States government agreed to protect the House of Saud with its military against all aggressors domestic and foreign. Petroleum and other liquids - All petroleum including crude oil and products of petroleum refining, natural gas liquids, biofuels, and liquids derived from other hydrocarbon sources (including coal to liquids and gas to liquids). Not included are liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid hydrogen. Petroleum products - Petroleum products are obtained from the processing of crude oil (including lease condensate), natural gas, and other hydrocarbon compounds. Petroleum products include unfinished oils, liquefied petroleum gases, pentanes plus, aviation gasoline, motor gasoline, naphtha-type jet fuel, kerosene-type jet fuel, kerosene, 27 distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, petrochemical feedsto ks, spe ial aphtha s, lu i a ts, asphalt, road oil, still gas, and miscellaneous products. a es, pet oleu oke, Plunge Protection Team (The) - The Working Group on Financial Markets (also, President's Working Group on Financial Markets, the Working Group, and colloquially the Plunge Protection Team) was created by Executive Order 12631, signed on March 18, 1988, by United States President Ronald Reagan. As established by the executive order, the Working Group has three purposes and functions: 1 Recognizing the goals of enhancing the integrity, efficiency, orderliness, and competitiveness of our Nation's financial markets and maintaining investor confidence, the Working Group shall identify and consider: a) the major issues raised by the numerous studies on the events in the financial markets surrounding October 19, 1987, and any of those recommendations that have the potential to achieve the goals noted above; and b) the actions, including governmental actions under existing laws and regulations (such as policy coordination and contingency planning), that are appropriate to carry out these recommendations. 2 The Working Group shall consult, as appropriate, with representatives of the various exchanges, clearinghouses, self-regulatory bodies, and with major market participants to determine private sector solutions wherever possible. 3 The Working Group shall report to the President initially within 60 days (and periodically thereafter) on its progress and, if appropriate, its views on any recommended legislative changes. The Working Group consists of:     The Secretary of the Treasury, or his or her designee (as Chairperson of the Working Group); The Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or his or her designee; The Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or his or her designee; and The Chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or his or her designee. Plutonium - is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with symbol Pu and atomic number 94. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous. Plutonium was first produced and isolated on December 14, 1940 by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Joseph W. Kennedy, Edwin M. McMillan, and Arthur C. Wahl by deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. Used to make nuclear weapons and can be used for nuclear fuel. Population growth - In biology or human geography, population growth is the increase in the number of individuals in a population. Global human population growth amounts to around 75 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 7 billion in 2012. It is expected to keep growing, and estimates have put the total population at 8.4 billion by mid-2030, and 9.6 billion by mid-2050. Many nations with rapid population growth have low standards of living, whereas many nations with low rates of population growth have high standards of living. Current World Population is 7,519,873,847 people. On 1 January 2017, the population of the European Union (EU-28) was estimated at 511.8 million. Power - In physics, power is the rate of doing work. It is the amount of energy consumed per unit time. Having no direction, it is a scalar quantity. In the SI system, the unit of power is the joule per second (J/s), known as the watt in honour of James Watt, the eighteenth-century developer of the steam engine. Another common and traditional measure is horsepower (comparing to the power of a horse). The rate of producing, transferring, or using energy, most commonly associated with electricity. Power is measured in watts and often expressed in kilowatts (kW) or megawatts (MW). 28 Power Station - A power station, also referred to as a power plant or powerhouse and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Most power stations contain one or more generators, a rotating machine that converts mechanical power into electrical power. The relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor creates an electrical current. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity. Others use nuclear power, but there is an increasing use of cleaner renewable sources such as solar, wind, wave and hydroelectric. Power station output – Power delivered to the electrical power grid by that power station. Power (electrical) - An electric measurement unit of power called a voltampere is equal to the product of 1 volt and 1 ampere. This is equivalent to 1 watt for a direct current system, and a unit of apparent power is separated into real and reactive power. Real power is the work-producing part of apparent power that measures the rate of supply of energy and is denoted as kilowatts (kW). Reactive power is the portion of apparent power that does no work and is referred to as kilovars; this type of power must be supplied to most types of magnetic equipment, such as motors, and is supplied by generator or by electrostatic equipment. Voltamperes are usually divided by 1,000 and called kilovoltamperes (kVA). Energy is denoted by the product of real power and the length of time utilized; this product is expressed as kilowatthours. Price-performance - In economics and engineering, the price–performance ratio refers to a product's ability to deliver performance, of any sort, for its price. Generally speaking, products with a lower price/performance ratio are more desirable, excluding other factors. Price–performance is often written as cost–performance or cost–benefit. Even though this term would seem to be a straightforward ratio, when price performance is improved, better, or increased, it actually refers to the performance divided by the price, in other words exactly the opposite ratio to rank a product as having an increased price/performance. Primary energy consumption - Consumption of primary energy. (Energy sources that are produced from other energy sources, e.g., coal coke from coal, are included in primary energy consumption only if their energy content has not already been included as part of the original energy source. This includes the following in energy consumption: coal consumption; coal coke net imports; petroleum consumption (petroleum products supplied, including natural gas plant liquids and crude oil burned as fuel); dry natural gas excluding supplemental gaseous fuels consumption; nuclear electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the nuclear plants heat rates); conventional hydroelectricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates); geothermal electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates), and geothermal heat pump energy and geothermal direct use energy; solar thermal and photovoltaic electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates), and solar thermal direct use energy; wind electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates); wood and wood-derived fuels consumption; biomass waste consumption; fuel ethanol and biodiesel consumption; losses and co-products from the production of fuel ethanol and biodiesel; and electricity net imports (converted to Btu using the electricity heat content of 3,412 Btu per kilowatthour). Primary energy consumption expenditures - Expenditures for energy consumed in each of the four major end-use sectors, excluding energy in the form of electricity, plus expenditures by the electric utilities sector for energy used to generate electricity. There are no fuel-associated expenditures for associated expenditures for hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, photovoltaic and solar energy, or wind energy. Also excluded are the quantifiable consumption expenditures that are an integral part of process fuel consumption. Primary energy production - Production of primary energy. This includes the following in energy production: coal production, waste coal supplied, and coal refuse recovery; crude oil and lease condensate production; natural gas plant liquids production; dry natural gas excluding supplemental gaseous fuels production; nuclear electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the nuclear plant heat rates); conventional hydroelectricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates); geothermal electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates), and geothermal heat pump energy and geothermal direct use energy; solar thermal and photovoltaic electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates), and solar thermal 29 direct use energy; wind electricity net generation (converted to Btu using the fossil-fuels plant heat rates); wood and wood-derived fuels consumption; biomass waste consumption; and biofuels feedstock. Primary fuels - Fuels that can be used continuously. They can sustain the boiler sufficiently for the production of electricity. Primary raw materials - Are the product of the primary production sectors, which encompass the extraction of natural resources from the environment and their transformation through processing or refining. The obtained raw materials are primary commodities, the base materials for further manufacturing and consumption processes. Printing of Money or Money Creation - Money creation (also known as credit creation) is the process by which the money supply of a country or a monetary region (such as the Eurozone) is increased. A central bank may introduce new money into the economy (termed "expansionary monetary policy", or by detractors "printing money") by purchasing financial assets or lending money to financial institutions. However, in most countries today, most of the money supply is in the form of bank deposits, which is created by private banks in a fractional reserve banking system. Bank lending increases the amount of broad money beyond the amount of base money originally created by the central bank. Reserve requirements, capital adequacy ratios, and other policies of the central bank influence this process. Probable (indicated) reserves, coal - Reserves or resources for which tonnage and grade are computed partly from specific measurements, samples, or production data and partly from projection for a reasonable distance on the basis of geological evidence. The sites available are too widely or otherwise in appropriately spaced to permit the mineral bodies to be outlined completely or the grade established throughout. Probable energy reserves - Estimated quantities of energy sources that, on the basis of geologic evidence that supports projections from proved reserves, can reasonably be expected to exist and be recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions. Site information is insufficient to establish with confidence the location, quality, and grades of the energy source. Note: This term is equivalent to "Indicated Reserves" as defined in the resource/reserve classification contained in the U.S. Geological Survey Circular 831, 1980. Measured and indicated reserves, when combined, constitute demonstrated reserves. Process fuel - All energy consumed in the acquisition, processing, and transportation of energy. Quantifiable process fuel includes three categories natural gas lease and plant operations, natural gas pipeline operations, and oil refinery operations. Processed gas - Natural gas that has gone through a processing plant. Project commissioning - is the process of assuring that all systems and components of a building or industrial plant are designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained according to the operational requirements of the owner or final client. A commissioning process may be applied not only to new projects but also to existing units and systems subject to expansion, renovation or revamping. In practice, the commissioning process comprises the integrated application of a set of engineering techniques and procedures to check, inspect and test every operational component of the project, from individual functions, such as instruments and equipment, up to complex amalgamations such as modules, subsystems and systems. Project for the New American Century (PNAC) - was a neoconservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that focused on United States foreign policy. It was established as a non-profit educational organization in 1997, and founded by William Kristol and Robert Kagan. PNAC's stated goal was "to promote American global leadership." The organization stated that "American leadership is good both for America and for the world," and sought to build support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity." Of the twenty-five people who signed PNAC's founding statement of principles, ten went on to serve in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. Observers such as Irwin Stelzer and Dave Grondin have suggested that the PNAC played a key role in shaping the foreign policy of the Bush Administration, particularly in building support for the Iraq War. 30 Production, oil and gas - The lifting of oil and gas to the surface and gathering, treating, field processing (as in the case of processing gas to extract liquid hydrocarbons), and field storage. The production function shall normally be regarded as terminating at the outlet valve on the lease or field production storage tank. If unusual physical or operational circumstances exist, it may be more appropriate to regard the production function as terminating at the first point at which oil, gas, or gas liquids are delivered to a main pipeline, a common carrier, a refinery, or a marine terminal. Proved (measured) reserves, coal - Reserves or resources for which tonnage is computed from dimensions revealed in outcrops, trenches, workings, and drill holes and for which the grade is computed from the results of detailed sampling. The sites for inspection, sampling, and measurement are spaced so closely and the geologic character is so well defined that size, shape, and mineral content are well established. The computed tonnage and grade are judged to be accurate within limits that are stated, and no such limit is judged to be different from the computed tonnage or grade by more than 20 percent. Proved energy reserves - Estimated quantities of energy sources that analysis of geologic and engineering data demonstrates with reasonable certainty are recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions. The location, quantity, and grade of the energy source are usually considered to be well established in such reserves. Note: This term is equivalent to "Measured Reserves" as defined in the resource/reserve classification contained in the U.S. Geological Survey Circular 831, 1980. Measured and indicated reserves, when combined, constitute demonstrated reserves. Proxy (technical) - A figure that can be used to represent the value of something in a calculation. Purchasing power - (sometimes retroactively called adjusted for inflation) is the number and quality or value of goods and services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if one had taken one unit of currency to a store in the 1950s, it is probable that it would have been possible to buy a greater number of items than would today, indicating that one would have had a greater purchasing power in the 1950s. Currency can be either a commodity money, like gold or silver, or fiat money emitted by government sanctioned agencies. PV - Photovoltaic PVCs that convert sunlight directly into energy - A method for producing energy by converting sunlight using photovoltaic cells (PVCs) that are solid-state single converter devices. Although currently not in wide usage, commercial customers have a growing interest in usage and, therefore, DOE has a growing interest in the impact of PVCs on energy consumption. Economically, PVCs are competitive with other sources of electricity. Pyrolysis - The thermal decomposition of biomass at high temperatures (greater than 400° F, or 200° C) in the absence of air. The end product of pyrolysis is a mixture of solids (char), liquids (oxygenated oils), and gases (methane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide) with proportions determined by operating temperature, pressure, oxygen content, and other conditions. Quantitative easing (QE) - is a monetary policy in which a central bank creates new electronic money in order to buy government bonds or other financial assets to stimulate the economy (i.e., to increase private-sector spending and return inflation to its target). An unconventional form of monetary policy, it is usually used when standard monetary policy has become ineffective at combating a falling money supply. A central bank implements quantitative easing by buying specified amounts of financial assets from commercial banks and other financial institutions, thus raising the prices of those financial assets and lowering their yield, while simultaneously increasing the money supply. This differs from the more usual policy of buying or selling short-term government bonds to keep interbank interest rates at a specified target value. Also called printing of money. QE1-3 added $4.5 Trillion to US Federal Reserve balance Sheet. QE1 – Round 1 of quantitative easing by the United States Federal Reserve. December 2008 to March 2010. QE2 – Round 2 of quantitative easing by the United States Federal Reserve. November 2010 to June 2011. QE3 – Round 3 of quantitative easing by the United States Federal Reserve. September 2012 to December 2013. 31 Radioactive decay - (also known as nuclear decay or radioactivity) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy (in terms of mass in its rest frame) by emitting radiation, such as an alpha particle, beta particle with neutrino or only a neutrino in the case of electron capture, gamma ray, or electron in the case of Internal conversion. A material containing such unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Radioactive half-life - Half-life (symbol t1⁄2) is the time required for a quantity to reduce to half its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo, or how long stable atoms survive, radioactive decay. The term is also used more generally to characterize any type of exponential or nonexponential decay. For example, the medical sciences refer to the biological half-life of drugs and other chemicals in the human body. The converse of half-life is doubling time. Half-life is constant over the lifetime of an exponentially decaying quantity, and it is a characteristic unit for the exponential decay equation. Radioactive isotopes eventually decay, or disintegrate, to harmless materials. Some isotopes decay in hours or even minutes, but others decay very slowly. Strontium-90 and cesium-137 have half-lives of about 30 years (half the radioactivity will decay in 30 years). Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years. Radioactive waste - is waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is usually a by-product of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to all forms of life and the environment, and is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment. Radioactivity naturally decays over time, so radioactive waste has to be isolated and confined in appropriate disposal facilities for a sufficient period until it no longer poses a threat. The time radioactive waste must be stored for depends on the type of waste and radioactive isotopes. Current approaches to managing radioactive waste have been segregation and storage for short-lived waste, near-surface disposal for low and some intermediate level waste, and deep burial or partitioning / transmutation for the high-level waste. Rate of energy supply (The) - that is, the rate at which the resource can be produced. A large insitu resource does society little good if it cannot be produced consistently and in large enough quantities—characteristics that are constrained by geological, geochemical, and geographical factors (and subsequently manifested in economic costs). For example, although resources such as oil shale, gas hydrates, and in situ coal gasification have a very large in situ potential, they have been produced at only miniscule rates, if at all, despite major expenditures over many years on pilot projects. Tar sands similarly have immense in situ resources, but more than four decades of very large capital inputs and collateral environmental impacts have yielded production of less than two percent of world oil requirements. Raw material - Crude or processed material that can be converted by manufacture, processing, or combination into a new and useful product. The basic substances or mixtures of substances in an untreated state except for extraction and primary processing. They can be subdivided into primary and secondary raw materials. Real economy (The) - The part of the economy that is concerned with actually producing goods and services, as opposed to the part of the economy that is concerned with buying and selling on the financial markets. Refinery Processing Gain - The volumetric amount by which total output is greater than input. This difference is due to the processing of crude oil into products that, in total, have lower specific gravity than the crude oil processed. Therefore, in terms of volume, the total output of products is greater than input. Renewable energy electricity generation - Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services. Saudi Arabia - officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is an Arab sovereign state in Western Asia constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula. With a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km2, Saudi Arabia is geographically the fifth-largest state in Asia and second-largest state in the Arab world after Algeria. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the 32 southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast and most of its terrain consists of arid desert and mountains. Saudi Arabia has dominated the oil producing market for decades and maintains the Petrodollar. Second Oil Shock/Crisis (1979) – The 1979 (or second) oil crisis or oil shock occurred in the United States due to decreased oil output in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Despite the fact that global oil supply decreased by only ~4%, widespread panic resulted, driving the price far higher. The price of crude oil more than doubled to $39.50 per barrel over the next 12 months, and long lines once again appeared at gas stations, as they had in the 1973 oil crisis. Secondary raw materials – Primary raw materials are used and then will finally end up as waste, from which secondary raw materials can be derived through recycling. These recycled materials can be used as feed stock into manufacturing in place of primary raw materials. Seigniorage - (from Old French seigneuriage "right of the lord (seigneur) to mint money"), is the difference between the value of money and the cost to produce and distribute it. The term can be applied in the following ways:   Seigniorage derived from specie—metal coins—is a tax, added to the total price of a coin (metal content and production costs), that a customer of the mint had to pay to the mint, and that was sent to the sovereign of the political area. Seigniorage derived from notes is more indirect, being the difference between interest earned on securities acquired in exchange for bank notes and the costs of producing and distributing those notes. The term also applies to monetary seignorage, where sovereign-issued securities are exchanged for newly minted bank notes by a central bank, thus allowing the sovereign to 'borrow' without needing to repay. However, monetary seignorage refers to the sovereign revenue obtained through routine debt monetization, including expanding the money supply during GDP growth and meeting yearly inflation targets. Seigniorage is a convenient source of revenue for some governments. By providing the government with increased purchasing power at the expense of the public's purchasing power, it imposes what is metaphorically known as an inflation tax on the public. Shadow Banking System - is a term for the collection of non-bank financial intermediaries that provide services similar to traditional commercial banks but outside normal financial regulations. This definition was first put forward by PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management COmpany) executive director Paul McCulley at FED (Federal Reserve System) annual meeting in 2007. Shadow banking has grown in importance to rival traditional depository banking, and was a primary factor in the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2008 and the global recession that followed. Former US Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke provided the following definition in November 2013: "Shadow banking, as usually defined, comprises a diverse set of institutions and markets that, collectively, carry out traditional banking functions — but do so outside, or in ways only loosely linked to, the traditional system of regulated depository institutions. Examples of important components of the shadow banking system include securitization vehicles, asset-backed commercial paper [ABCP] conduits, and money market funds, markets for repurchase agreements, investment banks, and mortgage companies" Shale gas - Natural gas produced from wells that are open to shale formations. Shale is a fine-grained, sedimentary rock composed of mud from flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other materials. The shale acts as both the source and the reservoir for the natural gas. Shale oil - is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil can be used immediately as a fuel or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen. The refined products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil. The term "shale oil" is also used for crude oil produced from shales of other very low permeability formations. However, to reduce the risk of confusion of shale oil produced from oil shale with crude oil in oil-bearing shales, the term "tight oil" is preferred for the latter. The International Energy Agency recommends to use the term "light tight oil" and World Energy Resources 2013 report by the World Energy Council uses the term "tight oil" for crude oil in oil-bearing shales. 33 Shallow offshore drilling - is typically defined as drilling in a water depth that is less than 500 feet (150 meters). In general, rigs drilling in this environment are drilling platforms, otherwise known as jackups, which are able to reach the sea bottom. Wells being drilled in shallow offshore environments are typically located in mature fields. A mature field is one where production has reached its peak and has started to decline. Solar power generation - is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 392 MW Ivanpah installation is the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world, located in the Mojave Desert of California. As the cost of solar electricity has fallen, the number of grid-connected solar PV systems has grown into the millions and utility-scale solar power stations with hundreds of megawatts are being built. Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology to harness renewable energy from the Sun. The current largest photovoltaic power station in the world is the 850 MW Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, in Qinghai, China. Sovereign debt default - is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full. Cessation of due payments (or receivables) may either be accompanied by formal declaration (repudiation) of a government not to pay (or only partially pay) its debts, or it may be unannounced. A credit rating agency will take into a ou t i its g adi g s apital, i te est, extraneous and procedural defaults, and failures to abide by the terms of bonds or other debt instruments. Countries have at times escaped the real burden of some of their debt through inflation. This is not "default" in the usual sense because the debt is honoured, albeit with currency of lesser real value. Sometimes governments devalue their currency. This can be done by printing more money to apply toward their own debts, or by ending or altering the convertibility of their currencies into precious metals or foreign currency at fixed rates. Harder to quantify than an interest or capital default, this often is defined as an extraneous or procedural default (breach) of terms of the contracts or other instruments. Soviet Union - officially the Union of Soviet “o ialist ‘epu li s U““‘; ‘ussia : ою́ ове́тск о л ст ́ ческ еспу́ л к ), also known unofficially as Russia, was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple equal national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party federation, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. Sour crude oil - is crude oil containing a high amount of the impurity sulfur. It is common to find crude oil containing some impurities. When the total sulfur level in the oil is more than 0.5% the oil is called "sour". The impurities need to be removed before this lower-quality crude can be refined into petrol, thereby increasing the cost of processing. This results in a higher-priced gasoline than that made from sweet crude oil. Current environmental regulations in the United States strictly limit the sulfur content in refined fuels such as diesel and gasoline. The majority of the sulfur in crude oil occurs bonded to carbon atoms, with a small amount occurring as elemental sulfur in solution and as hydrogen sulfide gas. Sour oil can be toxic and corrosive, especially when the oil contains higher levels of hydrogen sulfide, which is a breathing hazard. At low concentrations the gas gives the oil the smell of rotting eggs. Special Drawing Rights Currency - (ISO 4217 currency code XDR, also abbreviated SDR) are supplementary foreignexchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The XDR is the unit of account for the IMF, and is not a currency per se.[2] XDRs instead represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged.[3] The XDR was created in 1969 to supplement a shortfall of preferred foreign-exchange reserve assets, namely gold and the U.S. dollar. XDRs are allocated to countries by the IMF. Private parties do not hold or use them. The amount of XDRs in existence was around XDR 21.4 billion in August 2009. During the global financial crisis of 2009, an additional XDR 182.6 billion e e allo ated to "p o ide li uidit to the glo al e o o i s ste a d supple e t e e ou t ies offi ial reserves". By October 2014, the amount of XDRs in existence was XDR 204 billion. 34 The value of the XDR is based on a basket of key international currencies reviewed by IMF every five years. The weights assigned to each currency in the XDR basket are adjusted to take into account their current prominence in terms of international trade and national foreign exchange reserves.[3] In the review conducted in November 2015, the IMF decided that the Renminbi (Chinese yuan) would be added to the basket effective October 1, 2016. From that date, the XDR basket now consists of the following five currencies: U.S. dollar 41.73%, Euro 30.93%, Renminbi (Chinese yuan) 10.92%, Japanese yen 8.33%, British pound 8.09%. Spent nuclear fuel rods - occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and depending on its point along the nuclear fuel cycle, it may have considerably different isotopic constituents. When a nuclear reactor has been shut down and the nuclear fission chain reaction has ceased, a significant amount of heat will still be produced in the fuel due to the beta decay of fission products. For this reason, at the moment of reactor shutdown, decay heat will be about 7% of the previous core power if the reactor has had a long and steady power history. About 1 hour after shutdown, the decay heat will be about 1.5% of the previous core power. After a day, the decay heat falls to 0.4%, and after a week it will be 0.2%. The decay heat production rate will continue to slowly decrease over time. Spent fuel that has been removed from a reactor is ordinarily stored in a waterfilled spent fuel pool for a year or more (in some sites 10 to 20 years) in order to cool it and provide shielding from its radioactivity. Practical spent fuel pool designs generally do not rely on passive cooling but rather require that the water be actively pumped through heat exchangers. Spot price - is the current market price at which an asset is bought or sold for immediate payment and delivery. It is differentiated from the forward price or the futures price, which are prices at which an asset can be bought or sold for delivery in the future. Stagflation - In economics, stagflation, a portmanteau of stagnation and inflation, is a situation in which the inflation rate is high, the economic growth rate slows, and unemployment remains steadily high. It raises a dilemma for economic policy, since actions designed to lower inflation may exacerbate unemployment, and vice versa. The term is generally attributed to a British Conservative Party politician who became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1970, Iain Macleod, who coined the phrase in his speech to Parliament in 1965. Keynes did not use the term, but some of his work refers to the conditions that most would recognise as stagflation. In the version of Keynesian macroeconomic theory that was dominant between the end of World War II and the late 1970s, inflation and recession were regarded as mutually exclusive, the relationship between the two being described by the Phillips curve. Stagflation is very costly and difficult to eradicate once it starts, both in social terms and in budget deficits. Stand-alone-complex - A situation in which the observers can assume the conclusion that multiple subjects are acting as a system for a common goal (a complex); but truly, all subjects had zero involvement with each other and it was merely coincidence that they seemed to have a common goal (stand-alone). Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500) - or just "the S&P", is an American stock market index based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies having common stock listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ. The S&P 500 index components and their weightings are determined by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It differs from other U.S. stock market indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Nasdaq Composite index, because of its diverse constituency and weighting methodology. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices, and many consider it one of the best representations of the U.S. stock market, and a bellwether for the U.S. economy. The National Bureau of Economic Research has classified common stocks as a leading indicator of business cycles. Steam engine - A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products. Sub-bituminous coal - is a type of coal whose properties range from those of lignite to those of bituminous coal and are used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation. 35 Substitute (synthetic) natural gas - Substitute natural gas (SNG), or synthetic natural gas, is a fuel gas that can be produced from fossil fuels such as lignite coal, oil shale, or from biofuels (when it is named bio-SNG) or from renewable electrical energy. Supply network - is a pattern of temporal and spatial processes carried out at facility nodes and over distribution links, which adds value for customers through the manufacturing and delivery of products. It comprises the general state of business affairs in which all kinds of material (work-in-process material as well as finished products) are transformed and moved between various value-added points to maximize the value added for customers. Supply chain - is a special instance of a supply network in which raw materials, intermediate materials and finished goods are procured exclusively as products through a chain of processes that supply one another. Sweet crude oil - is a type of petroleum. The New York Mercantile Exchange designates petroleum with less than 0.42% sulfur as sweet. Petroleum containing higher levels of sulfur is called sour crude oil. Sweet crude oil contains small amounts of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. High-quality, low-sulfur crude oil is commonly used for processing into gasoline and is in high demand, particularly in the industrialized nations. Light sweet crude oil is the most sought-after version of crude oil as it contains a disproportionately large fraction that is directly processed (fractionation) into gasoline (naphtha), kerosene, and high-quality diesel (gas oil). The term sweet originates from the fact that a low level of sulfur provides the oil with a mildly sweet taste and pleasant smell. Nineteenth-century prospectors would taste and smell small quantities of oil to determine its quality. Systemic banking crisis - is one where all or almost all of the banking capital in a country is wiped out. The resulting chain of bankruptcies can cause a long economic recession as domestic businesses and consumers are starved of capital as the domestic banking system shuts down. Tar sands – see Oil sands Temporal marker - A te po al a ke is a state e t that helps a s e the uestio Whe did this happe ? Often used as an analytical tool to correlate causality or help define the existence of a relationship between events over time. Three Mile Island accident (The) - was caused by a nuclear meltdown that occurred on March 28, 1979, in reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI-2) in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. The incident was rated a five on the seven-point International Nuclear Event Scale: Accident With Wider Consequences. Tidal power generation - Tidal power or tidal energy is a form of hydropower that converts the energy obtained from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than the wind and the sun. Among sources of renewable energy, tidal energy has traditionally suffered from relatively high cost and limited availability of sites with sufficiently high tidal ranges or flow velocities, thus constricting its total availability. However, many recent[when? clarification needed] technological developments and improvements, both in design (e.g. dynamic tidal power, tidal lagoons) and turbine technology (e.g. new axial turbines, cross flow turbines), indicate that the total availability of tidal power may be much higher than previously assumed, and that economic and environmental costs may be brought down to competitive levels. Tight gas - is natural gas produced from reservoir rocks with such low permeability that massive hydraulic fracturing is necessary to produce the well at economic rates. Tight gas reservoirs are generally defined as having less than 0.1 millidarcy (mD) matrix permeability and less than ten percent matrix porosity.[1][2] Although shales have low permeability and low effective porosity, shale gas is usually considered separate from tight gas, which is contained most commonly in sandstone, but sometimes in limestone. Tight gas is considered an unconventional source of natural gas. Rock with permeabilities as little as one nanodarcy, reservoir stimulation may be economically productive with optimized spacing and completion of staged fractures to maximize yield with respect to cost. 36 Tight oil - Tight oil (also known as shale oil, shale-hosted oil or light tight oil, abbreviated LTO) is light crude oil contained in petroleum-bearing formations of low permeability, often shale or tight sandstone. Economic production from tight oil formations requires the same hydraulic fracturing and often uses the same horizontal well technology used in the production of shale gas. While sometimes called "shale oil", tight oil should not be confused with oil shale, which is shale rich in kerogen, or shale oil, which is oil produced from oil shales. Thorium - is a chemical element with symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium metal is silvery and tarnishes black when exposed to air, forming the dioxide; it is soft, malleable, and has a high melting point. Thorium is an electropositive actinide, whose chemistry is dominated by the +4 oxidation state; it is quite reactive, prone to ignition on air when properly divided. Thorium is weakly radioactive: all of its known isotopes are unstable. Thorium-232 (232Th), which has 142 neutrons, is the most stable isotope of thorium and accounts for nearly all natural thorium, with six other natural isotopes occurring only as trace radioisotopes. Thorium-based nuclear power - is nuclear reactor-based, fuelled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. According to proponents, a thorium fuel cycle offers several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle—including much greater abundance on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. However, development of thorium power has significant start-up costs. Ukraine crisis - A prolonged crisis in Ukraine began on 21 November 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. This decision resulted in mass protests by its proponents, known as the "Euromaidan". After months of such protests, Yanukovych was ousted by the protesters on 22 February 2014, when he fled the Ukrainian capital city of Kiev. Following his ousting, unrest enveloped the largely Russophone eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, from where he had drawn most of his support. An ensuing political crisis and Russian military intervention in the Ukrainian autonomous region of Crimea resulted in the annexation of Crimea by Russia on 18 March 2014. Subsequently, unrest in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine evolved into a war in Donbass between the post-revolutionary Ukrainian government and pro-Russian insurgents, supported and often assisted by the Russian military and special forces. Unconventional oil production - An umbrella term for oil and natural gas that is produced by means that do not meet the criteria for conventional production. This is oil which requires advanced production methods due to its geologic formations and/or is heavy and does not flow on its own. Note: What has qualified as "unconventional" at any particular time is a complex interactive function of resource characteristics, the available exploration and production technologies, the current economic environment, and the scale, frequency, and duration of production from the resource. Perceptions of these factors inevitably change over time and they often differ among users of the term. Unconventional oil included:            oil shales oil sands-based synthetic crudes and derivative products tight oil heavy oil and extra-heavy oil (Orimulsion) coal-based liquid supplies biomass-based liquid supplies gas to liquid (GTL) - liquids arising from chemical processing of gas natural bitumen (oil sands) kerogen oil liquids and gases arising from chemical processing of natural gas (GTL) coal-to-liquids (CTL) and additives. Unconventional natural gas production - An Unconventional gas is natural gas obtained from sources of production that are, in a given era and location, considered to be new and different. Sources at times considered to be unconventional include:  Coalbed methane 37     Methane clathrate (gas hydrate) Shale gas Synthetic natural gas, such as oil shale gas Tight gas United States Congress - is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. United States Department of the Treasury - is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue. The Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet. United States treasury bonds – see United States Treasury Securities United States Treasury Securities - are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance the national debt of the United States. Treasury securities are often referred to simply as Treasuries. Since 2012 the management of government debt has been arranged by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, succeeding the Bureau of the Public Debt. There are four types of marketable treasury securities: Treasury bills, Treasury notes, Treasury bonds, and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). Uranium - is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-white metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly radioactive because all its isotopes are unstable (with half-lives of the five naturally known isotopes, uranium233 to uranium-236 and uranium-238, varying between 159200 years and 4.5 billion years). The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 (which has 146 neutrons and accounts for over 99%) and uranium-235 (which has 143 neutrons). Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. $USD – The United States dollar (sign: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ and referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, or American dollar) is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. Unofficially seen as the global reserve currency. US Federal Reserve – See Federal Reserve Bank Venus Project (The) - The brain child of Jacque Fresco, wrote and lectured his views on sustainable cities, energy efficiency, natural-resource management, cybernetic technology, automation, and the role of science in society. He directed the Venus Project and advocated global implementation of a socioeconomic system which he referred to as a "resource-based economy". The Venus Project proposes an alternative vision of what the future can be if we apply what we already know in order to achieve a sustainable new world civilization. It calls for a straightforward redesign of our culture in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but as totally unacceptable. Anything less will result in a continuation of the same catalog of problems inherent in today's world. Water table - The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. The water table is the surface where the water pressure head is equal to the atmospheric pressure (where gauge pressure = 0). It may be visualized as the "surface" of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. The groundwater may be from precipitation or from groundwater flowing into the aquifer. In areas with sufficient precipitation, water infiltrates through pore spaces in the soil, passing through the unsaturated zone. At increasing depths water fills in more of the pore spaces in the soils, until a zone of saturation is reached. Wave power generation - is the transport of energy by wind waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water (into reservoirs). A machine able to exploit wave power is generally known as a wave energy converter (WEC). Wave power is distinct from the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents. Wave-power generation is not currently a widely employed 38 commercial technology, although there have been attempts to use it since at least 1890. In 2008, the first experimental wave farm was opened in Portugal, at the Aguçadoura Wave Park. Wet natural gas - A mixture of hydrocarbon compounds and small quantities of various non hydrocarbons existing in the gaseous phase or in solution with crude oil in porous rock formations at reservoir conditions. The principal hydrocarbons normally contained in the mixture are methane, ethane, propane, butane, and pentane. Typical nonhydrocarbon gases that may be present in reservoir natural gas are water vapor, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen and trace amounts of helium. Under reservoir conditions, natural gas and its associated liquefiable portions occur either in a single gaseous phase in the reservoir or in solution with crude oil and are not distinguishable at the time as separate substances. Note: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board refer to this product as natural gas. Wind power generation - Wind power is the use of air flow through wind turbines to mechanically power generators for electric power. Wind power, as an alternative to burning fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, consumes no water, and uses little land. The net effects on the environment are far less problematic than those of nonrenewable power sources. Wind farms consist of many individual wind turbines which are connected to the electric power transmission network. Onshore wind is an inexpensive source of electric power, competitive with or in many places cheaper than coal or gas plants. Offshore wind is steadier and stronger than on land, and offshore farms have less visual impact, but construction and maintenance costs are considerably higher. Small onshore wind farms can feed some energy into the grid or provide electric power to isolated off-grid locations. Wind power gives variable power which is very consistent from year to year but which has significant variation over shorter time scales. It is therefore used in conjunction with other electric power sources to give a reliable supply. World Bank - The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries of the world for capital programs. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group. The World Bank's stated official goal is the reduction of poverty. However, according to its Articles of Agreement, all its decisions must be guided by a commitment to the promotion of foreign investment and international trade and to the facilitation of capital investment. World Energy Council (WEC) - is a global and inclusive forum for thought-leadership and tangible engagement with headquarters in London. Its mission is 'To promote the sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all people'. The World Energy Council is the principal impartial network of leaders and practitioners promoting an affordable, stable and environmentally sensitive energy system for the greatest benefit of all. Formed in 1923, the Council is the UN-accredited global energy body, representing the entire energy spectrum, with more than 3000 member organisations located in over 90 countries and drawn from governments, private and state corporations, academia, NGOs and energy-related stakeholders. The World Energy Council informs global, regional and national energy strategies by hosting high-level events, publishing authoritative studies, and working through its extensive member network to facilitate the o ld s e e g poli dialogue. World Energy Outlook (WEO) - The annual World Energy Outlook is the International Energy Agency's flagship publication, widely recognised as the most authoritative source for global energy projections and analysis. It represents the leading source for medium to long-term energy market projections, extensive statistics, analysis and advice for both governments and the energy business. It is produced by the Office of the Chief Economist, presently under the direction of Dr. Fatih Birol. Year-over-year (YOY) - Is a comparison of a statistic for one period to the same period the previous year. The period is usually a month or quarter. The year-over-year growth rate calculates the percent change during the past twelve months. 39