The EU’s Energy Diplomacy: Transatlantic and Foreign Policy Implications

Energy security is increasingly occupying a top spot on the EU’s foreign policy agenda. The unconventional oil and gas revolution, OPEC’s supply response, increased global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade, persistent concerns about the reliability of Russian gas supplies and the need to expand low carbon energies such as renewables to address climate change pose opportunities and challenges to European energy security.

The EU has upgraded the issue with its flagship Energy Union communication and its EU Energy Diplomacy Action Plan. The United States has developed into a major exporter of Natural Gas Liquids and refined petroleum products as a result of its unconventional oil and gas revolution. It might develop export capacities for LNG and continues to be a major coal exporter. The mutual energy trade could expand if the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) were concluded successfully. The United States is also a crucial partner of the EU for transport security and the protection of critical energy infrastructure. Against this backdrop, this study analyses opportunities and challenges of transatlantic energy cooperation in a changing global energy landscape.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: The Limits of European Energy Diplomacy http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-limits-of-european-energy-diplomacy/

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union: Publications available via the EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/directorate-general-for-internal-policies-of-the-union-cbf.cKABstF7wAAAEjwYYY4e5K/

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: Study, June 2016: The EU’s Energy Diplomacy: Transatlantic and Foreign Policy Implications http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/535007/EXPO_STU(2016)535007_EN.pdf

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