The term ‘geopolitics’ describes the relationship between geographical features, like oceans, and the decisions of national governments on the international stage. This article discusses how two fundamental challenges to the global energy system are requiring us to rethink the geopolitics of global energy security.
In the early 1970s, Western countries experienced an energy crisis when the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) placed an embargo on the sales of crude oil to the USA, Japan, the UK and the Netherlands. The Arabic countries in OPEC protested against these countries’ support of Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The result was a dramatic increase in the oil price (from $3 to $12 a barrel). Fuel shortages in the USA and Europe meant that cars owners had to queue at petrol stations.
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