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İqtisadi və Siyasi Elmlər Jurnalı.
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AYDINLI FARIDA
Phd student, Baku State University
e-mail: alibeylifarida93@gmail.com
UOT 327
EUROPEAN UNION’S ENERGY POLICY
FROM RUSSIAN PRISM
SUMMARY
The European region is considered to be the world's economic center
and the energy supply of this center is one of the issues on the agenda.
Especially since the XXI century, Russia-European relations are important
from the energy prism. The dynamic processes that have taken place in the
last period of time indicate that states adopt the concept of "energy
security" as a geostrategic imperative, and that these concepts give rise to
a new energy map in the world. Europe's energy future as one of the
world's most energy-importing regions is one of the main topics discussed
recently. Economic crises, political conflicts, sharp decline in oil prices,
and processes around Russia pose a threat to Europe's energy security and
pushes the positive outlook on Europe's future of energy.
The article analyzes Europe's energy policy based on a number of
statistical data, addresses the issue of eliminating or reducing dependence
on Russia, diversification, availability of new sources, and security criteria
for transit zones.
Key words: European energy policy, energy security, diversification,
EU, Russia, Caspian region, Southern Gas Corridor, Turkey, Ukraine,
Iran.
If the collapse of the USSR, as a result of the Cold War, is
theoretically described as the emergence of a "monolithic world system,"
the development of processes in the world since XXI century should be
regarded as the formation of "new energy". Because from this point of
view new centers, economic powers are beginning to emerge in the world
politics and the growing energy needs of emerging economies and the use
of a state with great energy potential, such as Russia, for political purposes
leads to the transformation of energy into a geopolitical factor. Especially
from the point of view of the economic power, the European Union's
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energy policy, the energy future of Europe, the emergence of new
opportunities and the maximum use of energy are one of the priorities that
need to be explored.
The term energy security has been included in the European agenda
for the first time in connection with the "oil shocks" that occurred in the
1970s [1]. Ensuring energy security for Europe is the delivery of energy to
the European markets through sustainable, affordable, safe and diverse
sources, at constant prices. In addition, issues such as the study of energy
production opportunities in Europe, increasing energy production,
increasing the share of alternative energy in energy supply, and
environmental protection are key to the European Union.
The European Union, which has 28 states, is one of the world's largest
economic centers. $ 77 trillion World $ 18 trillion of the world's GDP falls
to the EU. World $ 18.4 trillion worth of $ 5.9 trillion, $ 18.6 trillion in
world commodity imports, $ 6 trillion and $ 37 trillion in the world trade
32%, ie $ 11.7 trillion share [2].
If we analyze Europe's energy policy, we should investigate in several
ways:
1. Energy security challenges and perspectives in the European Union;
2. Russian factor,
oil and gas dependence removal;
3. Diversification trends, alternative energy sources;
4. Ukraine crisis, new transit zone - Turkey;
Currently, 40% of the energy needed for the EU economy is supplied
by oil, 25% by natural gas, 17% by coal, and 18% by nuclear,
hydroelectric
and other alternative energy. (According to studies conducted by the
European Union, 82% of world energy needs are met by oil, gas and coal,
5% of nuclear energy, and 13% by alternative energy.)
Table-1. Natural gas export (Russian Federation to European Union)
Years
Consumption
of EU
(billion m
3
)
Total
export
(billion m
3
)
Export
to EU
(billion m
3
)
Russian place
of in the
consumption
of EU (percent)
2014
438,1
225,5
138
31,50%
2015
386,9
201,9
120
31,02%
2016
402,1
207,5
133
33,08%
2017
428,8
204,8
133
31,02%
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As the world's largest energy importer, the European Union imports
84% of oil and 64% of its gas, since it does not have enough
oil and natural
gas resources, which means that 55% of the EU's energy sector is linked to
foreign markets [4]. The Alliance welcomes its energy supplies primarily
from Russia, including the Caspian Basin, Middle East and North Africa.
However, the politically unstable situation of these regions and transit
zones, such as Ukraine, South Caucasus, Iran and Turkey, and geopolitical
problems here, are the main threats to energy transit and energy security to
Europe [5, p. 164]. The Arab Spring, which began in 2011, has sparked
tensions in North Africa and the Middle East, political
tensions in countries
such as Egypt and Libya, instability in Algeria and Tunisia, and other
energy supplies in Muslim countries, Muslim militancy in Nigeria, Boko
Haram's activities, civil war, ethnopolitical conflicts
in the South Caucasus,
political processes around Ukraine, Russia-Turkey "aircraft shock",
security issues in European energy security and stability in these regions.
17% of the world's gas needs, Norway, the UK and the Netherlands
through the North Sea, leading to the EU's oil and natural gas needs, with
4% of the production. 30% of natural gas, 15% of oil is paid by the EU to
Norway [6]. Europe's gas needs, including Turkey and the Balkan
countries, are 450 billion m3, 64 percent of which is imported. According
to the survey, total demand will increase to 775 billion m3 since the year
2030, and import will reach 625 billion m3, which will increase Europe's
dependence on foreign markets to 80% [7, p. 8] The problem of energy
resources exhaustion will also make it difficult to find a new energy center.
In 2017, Russia will receive 133 billion m3 of 205 billion m3 of its export
to the European Union [Table-1] (by 2030 it is expected to increase to 230
billion cubic meters), the remaining 70 billion cubic meters - sold it.
Overall, 34.5% of oil imported from Europe, 32% of natural gas and 27%
of coal comes from Russia, representing 32% of Russian share in total
energy supply [8].
If we summarize the energy-imported regions of Europe, we find a
wide picture covering Russia, Norway, North Africa (Algeria and Libya),
the Middle East, and partly the Caspian region. As can be seen from the
above statistics, Russia's share of Europe's energy market is quite high, and
this should be considered a source of danger for Europe. Because the
diversification factor shown in the energy concepts it adopts does not
correspond to the conditions that are not dependent on the same transit
zone. It is clear that at the beginning of the 2000s, this figure of up to 80
percent of Russia's gas dependence will reduce to 30 percent for 15 years,