UK Energy Security: Challenges, Threats and Solutions

Abstract

Abstract: Over the last few decades, the debate about „Peak Oil‟ became increasingly common and frustrating to governments, oil companies and individuals. Also in the last decade or so, some unusual events took places, which have raised the concern about the future of energy resources.0F i These events and the peak oil debate lead policy makers, particularly in the industrialised countries, to consider what is known today as „Energy Security‟.
The UK is one of these countries that fears the unknown future should petroleum resources worldwide become scarce or vanish. After the dwindling of the North Sea production, the UK found itself on the brink of losing its energy self-sufficiency (Macalister, 2010). This paper sets the following questions: has the UK‟s oil and gas production peaked yet? If so, does the UK have a serious energy security problem? and if so, how this problem may be solved and what are the possible short, medium and long-term solutions for such a concern? In answering these questions, the paper discusses the concerns and challenges to the UK energy security and brings about the Government plans for tackling these concerns. In other words, the paper seeks to uncover the UK energy security position and shed light on any possible challenges and threats to this position. It also highlights the solutions to the energy security concern. Our analysis is based on quantitative data extracted from Governmental and industrial sources. It is found that the UK does not experience an energy security problem on the short to medium-term, but it may suffer energy insecurity on the longer-term.
Key words: Energy Security; UK; Peak Oil