Abstract:
Energy security has emerged in recent years as one of the cornerstones of the European Union’s (EU’s) foreign policy. The
EU is highly dependent on imports of oil and gas, 35 per cent
of which comes from Russia. Diversification of energy supplies
is thus a key goal for the EU. The Caspian region contains
some of the largest undeveloped oil and gas reserves in the
world. The intense interest shown by the major international
oil and gas companies testifies to its potential. Although the
area is unlikely to become “another Middle East”, it could
become a major oil supplier at the margin, much as the North
Sea is today. As such it could help increase world energy security by diversifying global sources of supply. Development of
the region’s resources still faces considerable obstacles. This
study focuses on the countries along the southern rim of the
former Soviet Union that are endowed with significant oil and
gas resources: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in
Central Asia, and Azerbaijan in Transcaucasia. The Southern
Energy Corridor (SEC), which aims to link Caspian Basin and
potentially Middle East gas supplies to Europe, is one of the
EU’s six priority axes of energy infrastructures. Drawing on the
external governance literature, this article provides an analysis of the EU’s efforts in the wider Black Sea area to increase its
energy security. It concludes that despite difficult domestic and
geopolitical obstacles, the EU is pushing forward its objective
to establish the SEC.
