Greece’s Energy Security Policy: Between Energy Needs and Geopolitical Imperatives

There is no doubt that, over the last few years, energy has been at the centre of global attention. Achieving energy security and diversification, combined with fighting climate change, have become the number one issue in almost every country in the world. On Wednesday, 2 January 2008, oil prices rose above the symbolic level of 100 dollars a barrel, a long-awaited milestone in an era of rapidly escalating energy demand. Oil prices, which had fallen to a low of 50 dollars a barrel at the beginning of 2007, have quadrupled since 2003. The rise has been driven by an unprecedented surge in demand from the United States, China and other Asian and Middle Eastern countries.1 Booming economies have led to more consumption of oil-derived products like gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. Meanwhile, new oil supplies have struggled to catch up. Oil markets have grown increasingly unpredictable over the past few years, with large swings that have been attributed partly to financial spec­ulation, not just market fundamentals. Political tensions in the Middle East, where more than two-thirds of the world’s proven oil reserves are located, have also fuelled the rise in prices.2