Energy Security: Geopolitics, Governance and Multipolarity

During the 1990s hydrocarbon fuels were relatively cheap and plentiful and it was assumed that the investments of the international energy companies, together with a functioning global market, would deliver secure and affordable supplies of energy. Since the turn of the century, however, there has been growing concern about the ability of energy producers to match rapidly increasing demand. The increasing economic expectations of the populace of energy-exporting states and the geopolitical actions of some of the major oil and gas reserve holding states has raised concerns about both the affordability and security of current and future energy supplies. In addition, the demands of climate change policy in the guise of the low carbon energy transition add an additional layer of complexity given that the energy system is the single largest source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This chapter is about energy security within an international relations context, about shifting patterns of energy supply and demand and their governance patterns and knock-on affects. It uses a geopolitical lens to highlight a shift in how OECD governments and international organisations now perceive and seek to govern energy security issues in the second half of the 2000s and into the 2010s.