Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium

Oil futures surge past $60 a barrel and continue heading north, raising the possibility of business recession, or perhaps stagflation. The Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) seeks to buy Unocal, topping Chevron’s bid, and Congress seethes. Iran uses climbing oil revenues to fund its drive to acquire a nuclear arsenal. The international community seems helpless to stop genocide in Darfur, Sudan, because China blocks referral to the Security Council. Countries contend over small rockpiles in the Pacific where there may or may not be commercially exploitable hydrocarbons. Looking at this combination of events and circumstances, some have pointed to the 1940s, when Japan’s drive to gain control over energy and raw materials led to war.

Join us as our participants lay out the problems, the opportunities, and the dangers policymakers confront in addressing the escalating demand for energy resources in a new century.