The NATO Association of Canada’s Energy Security Program, directed by Senior Research Fellow Dr. Robert M. Cutler, provides analysis and outreach on the full spectrum of energy-security concerns facing NATO members and partners. Core areas include the security of supply and demand, market and policy reliability, and the physical protection of critical energy infrastructure including supply chains for critical raw materials. The Program continuously assesses geopolitical, geo-economic, and military developments that may alter allied energy risks, options, and resilience. It advances public understanding and policy dialogue through webinars, the Energy Security blog, and sequenced series of Research Briefs, Policy Papers, and Research Studies. Contributors—including practitioners, scholars, and emerging analysts—are welcome. Please write to rmc@alum.mit.edu with the subject line “NAOC Energy Security Program” to propose articles, briefs, or events.
The Arab Spring threw a wrench into Egypt’s promising liquified natural gas (LNG) industry. Now, with stability returned to that country and the discovery of new gas deposits in the Nile littoral, Egypt is poised to become a major source of energy to the E.U. market. As auspicious as this sounds, it raises the stakes in an already volatile region marked by militarization and beset by inter-state strife and transcontinental tension.
Attempts to commercialize the East Mediterranean natural gas province continue still with difficulty. The gas deposits in the Cyprus offshore continue to be at the centre of attention, while those of Israel and Egypt are set in relation to those. The issue that preoccupies observers is how to market the gas from Cyprus in Europe. Read More…
Following the August signing of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a large-scale gas pipeline project that aspires to connect the region’s copious hydrocarbon resources to the European markets, has been drawn back into international debate. The present article illuminates how the SGC enhances the Read More…
The continuing news about the Syrian Civil War tends to obscure the emergence of the East Mediterranean basin as a potentially significant energy-producing region, where military clashes in coming months cannot be ruled out. Recent energy-related success stories in the region include Egypt’s offshore gas discoveries and the continuing growth of Israel’s offshore gas projects, Read More…
The authoritative text of the Convention on the Status of the Caspian Sea (Caspian Convention), signed August 12 in Aktau, Kazakhstan, is now available. After 23 years of negotiations, skepticism seems to be an influential trend in interpreting the Convention’s significance. It is easier for an expert to say, “Oh I didn’t expect such progress,” Read More…
John Szabo writes on the Nord Stream Two gas pipeline, and how it’s divided opinion across Europe and with its allies, and how it could affect EU and NATO projects in the foreseeable future. Germany wants to move forward, but that means that the Cold-War frontlines between East and West could be pushing further west.
After more than 20 years of negotiation, and despite all the skepticism, there is every indication that five-party the Convention on the Status of the Caspian Sea will be signed in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on August 12. In fact, it was clear last December that it would be signed soon enough, when the Russian foreign minister Read More…
European energy security policy reached a milestone in early June when the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP, after its Turkish initials) was opened. As the name indicates, the pipeline runs east-west across Turkey (1,850 kilometres) from the Georgian to the Greek border. It will carry, in the first instance, natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Read More…
Two extremely important events for Turkey’s energy policy took place within days of each other at the end of May and in early June. The first was the formal opening of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). The second was the order, by Dutch courts, that Gazprom’s assets in The Netherlands should be frozen. That court Read More…