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University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment

 School of Geography and the Environment

IGS: Current and Recent Graduate Research

Kärg Kama

Unconventional futures: anticipatory knowledge, politics and the market in Estonian oil shale industry

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Academic Profile

Kärg Kama is a D.Phil. candidate at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. She has an MSc with distinction in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Tartu, Estonia. Her Masters thesis examined the impacts of Shell's oil development project on local indigenous politics in Salym village, West Siberia, and was based on field work undertaken in Russia in summer 2007. Building on this experience, Kärg's research interests include resource governance, political geography, science and technology studies, materiality and futures.

Before moving to the UK in 2006, Kärg gained eight years of work experience in the national government and non-government organisations in her native Estonia. As an auditor of the National Audit Office, she assessed the performance of the government in resource use management and environmental policy-making. Her previous work for the Estonian Fund for Nature involved monitoring the environmental sustainability of international financial mechanisms and contributed to the agenda of WWF European Policy Office and the NGO coalition for sustainable EU funds in Brussels.

Awards
  • 2009-2012: Full doctorate scholarship, Ministry of Education and Research of Estonia.
  • 2009-2011: Field research grant, ESF-financed Fund for Wise Decisions, State Chancellery of Estonia.
  • 2009: Bursary for D.Phil. studies, Estonian Educational Trust in the UK.
  • 2008/9: Kristjan Jaak Scholarship, Ministry of Education and Research of Estonia.
  • 2006/7: Chevening Scholarship, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, British Council.
  • 2006: Marie Curie Actions Young Researcher's Grant, EASY-ECO training programme on sustainability evaluation.

Current Research

In response to rising oil prices and the declining availability of easily accessible reserves, petroleum-dependent societies have started to consider a transition towards more reliable and sustainable energy systems. Although the timing of 'peak oil' is disputed, the potential event of global shortage in association with climate change has become central to political debates on future energy security. Many local communities and national governments now experiment with the idea of a low-carbon economy. Other nations, together with international oil companies, have sought to substitute conventional supplies with alternative sources of crude oil, including oil shale. As unconventional deposits are estimated to be much larger than total world crude reserves, shale oil extraction represents one of the possible measures to defer the emerging energy crisis. Yet, oil shale development is expected to generate even higher emissions and extensive impacts on the environment, making the industry vulnerable to public opposition, regulatory uncertainties and investment risks.

Geographers and social theorists lack understanding of the ways in which societies anticipate, dispute and act upon the possible futures of fossil fuel economies. This research project focuses on a particular case of national politics of the future, which is conditioned by the promise of developing an unconventional oil resource. Estonia is currently the leading shale oil producer worldwide with a century-long experience in exploiting its oil shale reserves. Although the Estonian industry is responsible for a multitude of environmental hazards, it is of strategic importance to the national economy and political identity, securing the country with independent electric power generation and a unique position in the growing shale oil business. However, its future prospects have been recently called into question at different scales of politics.

Following the transformations in Estonia's energy economy, the study traces and analyses political issues related to both 'shale to power' and 'shale to liquids' options that are debated across different sites of contestation. The field research has a triple focus on knowledge, politics and the market with the following research questions:

  1. Oil shale science and planning: How is the size of exploitable reserves measured, assessed and allocated for future use? What other expert practices of predicting and modelling the future have informed the government and industry in oil shale policy-making?
  2. Politics of the future: How and under what conditions have different actors challenged the legacies of oil shale industry and conceived of alternative visions for the future? To what extent have contested accounts of the future reconfigured conventional forms and spaces of energy governance and politics?
  3. Markets in the making: In which ways has the industry responded to future uncertainties and opportunities in creating a market for unconventional fuel through technology transfer and development projects in other oil shale countries?

In 2010, Kärg carried out extensive field work in Estonia conducting interviews, observing events, analysing documents and media coverage. While writing up her thesis, she will also take a further look at the global situation by consulting with international experts and shale oil developers from other countries.

Funding for this research has come from the Estonian government, European Social Fund, Estonian Educational Trust in the UK, St Catherine's College, and Colorado School of Mines.