Geopolitics of energy - the big unknown

Geopolitics of energy - the big unknown

Having to make local decisions does not mean that the geopolitics of energy become less important. In fact, the third implication has been most widely recognized: It concerns the geopolitical consequences of shifts in the established centres of production and consumption. Nowhere is this better exemplified than by looking at the role of the Middle East.

We all have grown up in a world in which oil is the central fuel, and the Middle East is the world’s central oil supplier. For better or worse, the ensuing relations between the world’s largest oil consumer and this regional supply centre always had huge political consequences: there is no denying that a special two-way relationship has developed over time between the US (and the OECD more broadly) and small Middle Eastern economies which happen to be large oil producers.

These relations may be about to change, and in rather unpredictable ways.

Implausible as it may sound, twenty years ago, China was a net exporter of energy. By 2030 it is likely to become the world’s single largest oil (and natural gas, and coal) importer, relying on imports for almost 80% of its oil and more than 40% of its gas. Europe, over the same period, is likely to remain a large importer of fossil fuels - this is shown in the left hand chart below;

The US faces different prospects. Taking again the conservative production profile as our guide, the country will be nearly self-sufficient in energy by 2030. North America as a region (Mexico, the US and Canada) is likely to achieve this landmark even earlier. The US is a net coal exporter already and there is little doubt that it will become a net natural gas exporter soon. And while, in our conservative profile, it will remain a net importer of oil by 2030, these imports will have fallen drastically.

What are the consequences? Is it conceivable (and this is most definitely not a prediction) that a future American administration looks at this troubled region, wondering whether this is really skin of their nose because they need only very little oil – and the little they need, they can get from Canada and Mexico? We cannot know. The point is, it is unpredictable.

What is clear is that nature, markets, and presumably politics are not known to be fond of a vacuum. We cannot know how this one will be filled. But the geopolitics of energy relations as we have known them, are shifting.

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