The role of the Persian Gulf’s natural gas reserves for the European Union’s energy security

Abstract

Abstract
Energy, as a matter of security, is the major challenge during the 21st century. The energy mix in the world will change in the future, predominantly to renewable energy sources, followed by natural gas. Nevertheless, the latter will act as the bridge for the transitional era to the non–hydrocarbon period.
The EU will be the foremost gas importer by 2030 and the rate of LNG imports will double by 2020. The UK, France, Spain and Italy are the main EU entries for LNG imports and approximately 80% of the regional terminals are located in these countries importing 87% of the Union LNG needs. Obviously, the mentioned EU member states will be more influential for the regional energy security in the future.
Diversification of LNG routes and suppliers is an important objective in the EU’s energy policy and its security of supply. For this reason, it has already been at the top of the EU’s agenda.
The Persian Gulf, as the gas richest area worldwide, holds 40% of global gas reserves. Iran and Qatar, as the potential and actual LNG suppliers, embrace nearly 30% global gas deposits or 75% of Middle East reserves. So, this low–cost/ high–risk region could be influential on the EU’s energy security in the future.
Therefore, in the current multi–level analysis consisting of the EU and the Persian Gulf, as the macro and micro levels, the role of the natural gas within the Persian Gulf for the energy security of the EU will be examined. The research, furthermore, aims to analyse the role of the actual Qatari LNG and potential Iranian LNG on the UK, France, Spain and Italy in the future.
This multiple–case study centres on a comparison of different actual and potential LNG suppliers towards the EU, on the basis of testing the four indicators of the energy security, comprising acceptability, availability, affordability, and accessibility. It will finally to determine the position of the Persian Gulf and its main regional LNG suppliers in the future amongst the main global exporters.
Positioned in the intersection of the Persian Gulf and the EU, the existing dissertation pursues a multi–level explanation and analysis of energy–related issues of the both regions and their case–studies domestically, regionally and to lesser extent globally.
In parallel, the study is a detailed examination of the emerging gas and LNG–related challenges and vulnerabilities in addition to investigate the security of LNG supply–related issues, approaches, and policies of the EU and the main suppliers, particularly within the Persian Gulf.