Energy security

Résumé du document

The present file is composed of three documents. The first one is an advertisement released by Chevron Corporation in 2006. This ad aims at heightening public awareness towards the problem of the shortage and concentration of energy in just a few places in the world. The last two documents were released in ?The Economist'. The first one titled ?Oil and geopolitics: Crude argument's, published on October 9th 2004, tackles the issue of the dependence on the western countries to suffice energy requirements. The last article, entitled Nervous energy, released on January 7th 2006, deals with the energy insecurity in the world.

Extraits

[...] This analyst sees natural gas as an alternative to oil. His point of view is shared by the Chevron Corporation (doc which puts forwards that “using more natural gas could lead to lower fuel prices and to greater energy security”. (doc 1). Currently, this strategy is void. The events of January 2006, between Russia and Ukraine proved that natural gas does not escape from the geostrategy and its issues. Ultimately, the solution to this problem lies in technological progress: developing advanced Vehicles technologies that use energy more efficiently, or creating new energy sources that can replace petroleum cleanly an inexpensively. [...]

[...] However, it won't solve the problem of pollution since the making-process of biofuels are very polluting. But an other solution shines as a glimmer of hope. Hydrogen. This word seems to be THE solution to energy-independence. Having been used as an ingredient in some rocket fuels for several decades, hydrogen, is now widely discussed in the context of energy. Hydrogen is not an energy source, since it is not an abundant natural resource and more energy is used to produce it than can be ultimately extracted from it. [...]

[...] The last two documents were released in The Economist. The first one, entitled Oil and geopolitics: Crude arguments, published on October 9th 2004, tackles the issue of the dependence on energy of the western countries. The last article, entitled Nervous energy, released on January 7th 2006, deals with the energy insecurity in the world. The energy market has become a tight market. Not only are the energy supplies depleting, but they are also concentrated in unstable countries, far from were these supplies are needed. [...]

[...] Maybe is hydrogen the energy of the future. By now, cars are not adapted to that kind of energy, and hydrogen remains very explosive and, so, difficult to manipulate. Instead of Lovins's reflection efforts, energy-independence remains a myth. Recent years and months have seen increasing attention being paid to the issue of energy security. Today's global energy system is more vulnerable than ever before. Long supply chains separate producers from consumers and increase risks. The western countries' dependence upon foreign energy resources, such as oil and natural gas, affects their economy and national energy security. [...]

[...] For example, in 2005, while the USA has to cope with the two hurricanes which hit the Gulf of Mexico and its raffineries, Hugo Chàvez unilaterally raised the tax rate paid by the foreign oil companies. The West will come to depend ever more upon these currently undemocratic and unreliable countries. For many analysts, such as Amory Lovins (doc it is a reason to call for energy independence. As we have seen before, it is not possible to reach energy security by negotiating with the producer countries, so quick to brandish the energy weapon. Becoming energy-independent would be a real mean to promote energy security. But how to get there? [...]