Paasha Mahdavi
UCSB prof, researching climate politics and the oil industry. EGAPE Lab Director and 2035 Initiative co-founder. Wrote a book on oil nationalization (https://tinyurl.com/2zyaf8bd). Working to transition from the fossil fuel era. Posts expire after 30 days.
- 30 years after apertura petrolera, Venezuela is “opening up” the oil sector once more. This time it’s with a gun to the head. To me, it’s closer to what the US did to Iran after Mossadegh than it is to pure privatization. And that, as we know, led to a 25-yr dictator. apnews.com/article/vene...
- Had a great time tonight talking climate with some of the leading candidates for California governor! Thanks to @envirovoters.bsky.social for hosting. Full video here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=OsLc... I’ll have a full analysis soon in my newsletter. Sign up: climatecoloredgoggles.com
- Thanks @sammyroth.bsky.social for doing this—and especially for pushing candidates on #PolluterPays.
- I was born in Minneapolis. Perhaps b/c of that (or b/c of my Iranian family), I tend not to swear much. But enough is fucking enough. This shit is not right. And we can’t stand idly by, watching these cowards turn America into the fascist dictatorship my parents left behind.
- New bombshell from @truth.bsky.social on the Sable saga that’s playing out offshore Santa Barbara. This time outlining with impeccable precision the seven roadblocks to restarting offshore oil production. I was glad to contribute a small part to this wide-ranging investigation: hntrbrk.com/sable-5/
- “Santa Barbara's economy relies on coastal activities. It's coastal fishermen, tourism, hospitality… that depend on a clean and accessible waterfront. That right there is the heart of the county's economics, not oil and gas." My thoughts for Center Square: www.thecentersquare.com/california/a...
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- 🤔🤔🤔 300 gallon leakage for one 15MW wind turbine that would power 20,000 homes is truly “not much harm at all.” The average car in a driveway leaks ~0.25 gallons of oil per year. So the amount of “harm” from a turbine is 1/16th that of just a car sitting in the driveway of the home it’s powering.
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- Magnitude matters here. * Wind turbines at most carry 300 gallons of oils as a lubricant. * By comparison, the 2015 Refugio oil spill was 100,000 gallons. * The BP Deepwater Horizon spill was 134,000,000 gallons.
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- Wind turbines don’t leak methane, they don’t flare, and whatever toxins result from material corrosion pale in comparison to water toxins from offshore oil rigs (not to mention spills).
- As US potential action in Iran has hit a pause, worth noting @bloomberg.com analysis from last week predicting $91/barrel if there’s a supply disruption to Iran’s 3.3 mbpd production (3% global supply). Could lead to ~30% increase in gas prices at the pump. about.bnef.com/insights/com...
- What a brilliant and heartbreaking piece in @nytimes.com by @antoniajuhasz.bsky.social reminding us of oil’s destructive forces. “Landman” is a frustrating glorification of the industry—but also deeply revealing of the costs we as a society pay for oil. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...
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- Thank you for writing it 🙏
- This is such an own goal. Our team @the2035initiative.bsky.social and @emlab.ucsb.edu analyzed SB 1137, showing its pollution-reducing effects across the board especially for low-income communities. There’s no other way to put it: Trump gutting this bill will increase death rates across California.
- Trump administration sues California over law keeping oil wells from homes, schools - Los Angeles Times www.latimes.com/environment/...
- See the full analysis here, led by our stellar grad students @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social: bren.ucsb.edu/sites/defaul...
- With data and methods based on www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Trump administration sues California over law keeping oil wells from homes, schools - Los Angeles Times www.latimes.com/environment/...
- Thank you Prof. Bullard for sharing this, and for your continued voice advocating for environmental justice
- Happy @nathanielbullard.com Annual Decarbonization Presentation day to all who celebrate!
- Do you like charts? Oh yes you do. I've just published hundreds of them, as I do every year. www.nathanielbullard.com/presentations
- This is so good. All the key points about the role of energy in intervention here.
- The U.S. should be leading the charge on technologies of today and tomorrow, not running a 20th century playbook to prop up fuels of the past. Here's me on @cbsnews.com talking about geopolitics of ramping up Venezuela's oil industry youtu.be/I-OEo5n6uU0?...
- Thanks Will! ❤️
- This is literally the perfect sound bite, perfectly delivered
- The U.S. should be leading the charge on technologies of today and tomorrow, not running a 20th century playbook to prop up fuels of the past. Here's me on @cbsnews.com talking about geopolitics of ramping up Venezuela's oil industry youtu.be/I-OEo5n6uU0?...
- Thanks Michael ☺️ Though it’s wild that it’s come to this… and it’s only the second week of 2026
- The U.S. should be leading the charge on technologies of today and tomorrow, not running a 20th century playbook to prop up fuels of the past. Here's me on @cbsnews.com talking about geopolitics of ramping up Venezuela's oil industry youtu.be/I-OEo5n6uU0?...
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- Thanks Jess! Also you can spot *both* Rethinking Private Authority and Existential Politics on my bookshelf (on the opposite side from the oil books, including @profmichaelross.bsky.social and @jeffcolgan.bsky.social) 😉
- From @theguardian.com (h/t Poolad Karimi for originally sharing it), map showing the geographic diffusion of protests in Iran these past two weeks.
- Chevron & Exxon may spend $10 bn/yr just to revitalize Venezuela’s oil. Compare that to their global spend on “low-carbon solutions” of $4 bn/year. Simplifying a bit, but the reality is this: money spent on expanding oil is money directly not spent on decarbonization. My thoughts for @apnews.com
- Caveat is that Exxon is loudly saying Venezuela is "uninvestable" .... for now ;) (www.ft.com/content/2986...)
- Climate continues to get short-changed by reporting on Venezuela, so I’m grateful to Dharna Noor @theguardian.com for elevating climate & environmental implications. If Venezuelan oil ramps up, we as a planet are going to pay the price. More of my thoughts: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
- So we’re just expropriating foreign oil now? Am I gonna have to write another book about oil nationalization???
- “The central problem facing Venezuela’s oil sector is therefore not technical or geological. It is political and institutional. These realities are often obscured by wishful thinking or by actors seeking quick profits.” - @fmonaldi.bsky.social
- Fixing the Venezuelan oil industry will take time, money, and—most importantly—institutional change open.substack.com/pub/fmonaldi...
- In 1947, the Richmond Exploration Co struck oil at the supergiant Boscán field. 79 years and 3 nationalizations later, what’s now Chevron is still standing—waiting for another *apertura petrolera* and the next big payday. My oil history thoughts for @latimes.com www.latimes.com/california/s...
- Great to be on @cbcnews.ca's The National last night talking about the carbon footprint of Venezuela's oil production and the "muddy footprints" of the U.S. oil industry in this whole fiasco.
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- Totally weird. A coincidence, I'm sure 😂
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- Wood Mackenzie estimates about 1 million more bpd (~100% increase) could be online w/n 2 years without significant capital investment. But it'd take $15-20 bn over the next 10 yrs to increase production by another 500k bpd to get closer to pre-Chavez peak of 3m bpd. www.woodmac.com/blogs/energy...
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- Not always — lifting costs vary substantially based on geology and tech (and financing) Eg, see this cost curve based on break-even prices around the world (from www.nature.com/articles/s41...)
