Masoor Maitah, Ph.D., Institute of Political Studies, Charles University, U Krize 8, Prague, 158 00, Czech Republic
his paper deals with the current energy consumption and energy future demand in the EU. The main aim of this paper is to highlight the growing energy import dependency and the major risks related with that.
Nowadays, the EU is the largest energy importer in the world, and its dependence on imported resources such as crude oil and natural gas is steadily growing. The total energy consumption in the EU is expected to increase by 25% over a 30-year period and if no extra measures are taken, Europe will probably have to import more than 70% of its energy by 2030, as opposed to 50% now. The main problem lies with the EU reliance on very limited importing sources, mainly on the Middle East suppliers and Russia. By the year 2030, 90% of oil consumed by the EU will be imported.
The interdependency between the EU and its suppliers is not developing favourably from the European point of view, since the EU is becoming more dependent on imported energy, whereas suppliers may become less dependent on European machines and cars. Moreover, in a crisis situation, suppliers could move on without European machines and cars, but the EU would have considerable difficulties in replacing imported energy in case of nondelivery. It is obvious that EU's growing energy import dependency is a major risk. The EU faces many challenges in many areas such as: competitiveness and the internal energy market, diversification of the energy mix, solidarity between its member, sustainable development, innovation and technology, and external policy.
JEL NO.: Q380
Key Terms: Buffer Stock, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, OPEC, OPEC Policy