Today, we've got two BMW electric-car stories (one on battery cobalt, another on a mystery debut later this month), the long odds Tesla faces, the unlikely prospect of Syria one-upping the U.S. on climate, and our last Best Car To Buy 2018 finalist. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The cobalt in electric-car batteries is the cause of much. Today in Car News MORE

Oil shale deposits in Syria. Syria started research and exploration on oil shale in the 1950s, said Majid Gerjes, Exploration Director, The General Establishment of Geology and. Established by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria and Turkey in partnership with regional and international companies, the centre aims to develop a joint environmental and energy framework, establish common standards for studying and utilizing oil share resources, and attract investors in the sector.). MORE

There are also significant reserves in Jordan, Morocco, Sweden, Syria and Turkey. An article in the latest issue of IEA Energy: The Journal of the International Energy Agency reports that Estonia, which has the most developed oil shale industry in the world, is collaborating in pursuing wider use of oil shale in a cleaner, more sustainable manner. Different that shale oil—i.e., MORE

This week Syria, the final nation invited to join. Following President Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States from the Paris Climate Accord—a global pact to reduce carbon output and curb climate change—only two other nations had not signed the treaty. Now, the U.S. sits alone and isolated internationally on climate policy. global warming United States climate change Donald Trump MORE

President Putin’s recent moves in the Middle East—to shore up Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria through deployment of combat aircraft, equipment, and manpower and build-out of air-, naval-, and ground-force bases, and the agreement in the last week with Iran, Iraq, and Syria on intelligence and security cooperation—could contribute to Russian efforts to combat the myriad negative pressures on Russia’s vital energy industry. by Dalan McEndree for Oilprice.com. MORE

He said that without solutions to the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, an agreement is unlikely. by Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com. The next OPEC meeting on the 2nd of June will act as little more than a forum for continued altercations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. MORE

Iran, Iraq, and Syria have signed a deal for the construction of the Middle East’s largest gas pipeline, which would carry gas from Iran’s South Pars gas field to Europe via Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and beneath the Mediterranean Sea. By 2020, Syria will need about 15 to 20 million cubic meters of gas per day and Lebanon will need about five to seven million cubic meters of gas per day. MORE

Last Friday, President Trump signed an executive order suspending “immigrant and nonimmigrant entry” into the US from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen for 90 days, with the potential for adding further countries of origin to the list of proscribed. MORE

Some of the largest migratory outflows are driven by the demand for migrant workers (Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines) or by violence, insecurity and armed conflict (Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela). The world’s population is expected to increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050, according to a new United Nations report. MORE

They are fighting a multi-front war with Iran directly (in Yemen) and indirectly (in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq). by Dalan McEndree for Oilprice.com. In the last quarter of 2014, in the face of possible oversupply, Saudi Arabia abandoned its traditional role as the global oil market’s swing producer and therefore it role as unofficial guarantor of existing ($100+ per barrel) prices. MORE