“Oil and gas is what starts wars.”
So says Chris Faulkner, CEO of Breitling Energy Corporation, a Texas-based shale exploration and production company bidding on oil and gas blocks in the United Kingdom. Like thousands of other US energy executives, Faulkner is closely monitoring American and European policy responses to the Ukrainian crisis, which has amounted to both a military and energy pricing confrontation with Russia.
Faulkner’s analysis of Europe’s options is blunt: “It’s pretty simple. You can embrace Russia and kiss the imperial ring, or you can embrace shale gas. The reality is that if you have no energy security policy in place, whether it’s a country like the UK or another close to Russia, you’re fools.”
