The Geopolitics of Energy Security: The Rise of Asia

Led by Åshild Kolås

Oct 2006 – Dec 2006

New Delhi
Hotel Samrat
15 - 16 December, 2006

Organized jointly by Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO)

Emerging Asia is changing the dynamics of the energy market. The growing demand for oil and gas from Asia (especially China and India) is unfolding new patterns of energy trade with obvious security implications. Asia is increasingly becoming susceptible and vulnerable to the twists and turns of the global energy market. While for the consumers, finding secure energy sources is critical, for the exporters too, the need to find stable, secure markets has become an imperative. With large and diverse stakeholders, the global energy security regime needs to move towards a cooperative structure. Ironically such initiatives are sometimes perceived with suspicion, giving rise to new tensions between old and new stakeholders, and even creating new fault lines for future conflicts.

To address these issues the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) organized an academic conference on The Geopolitics of Energy Security: The Rise of Asia, which took place in New Delhi, 15-16 December 2006.

The conference was attended by 75-80 participants, and took a ground-breaking look at the linkages between three vital issues: global warming, peak oil and the world’s growing dependency on Persian Gulf oil reserves. India's Minister of State for External Affairs and Norway's Minister of Foreign Affaris both held opening addresses at the conference. The conference brought together researchers from India, China, the USA and Europe to discuss a broad range of topics related to energy security, including oil and gas markets; the geopolitical implications of increasing oil-import dependency; the threat of war in Iran; maritime security; the challenges of oil and gas pipeline constructions; and the need for international cooperation on investments in renewable energy technology.

Files:

image(bullet) Article by Stein Tønnesson [Norwegian]
image(bullet) Conference Report
IDSA-PRIO International Conference on The Geopolitics of Energy Security: The Rise of Asia

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