Major threats for oil security in Persian Gulf region

Resumen o Introducción

Particularly emerging nations such as China, India, or Brazil will contribute to increased oil consumption, rising from 83 million barrel per day in 2004 to 118 million barrels per day in 2030 (Energy Information Administration, 2007). In the face of this situation, it comes with no surprise that “the world is now entering a challenging period for energy supply, due to the limited resources and production problems now facing conventional (easily accessible) oil” (Energy Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 14.10.2005). Therefore, oil supply security has become a priority in political agendas and given an “extreme dependence on supply from the Middle East holding more than 60 % of the global oil reserves” (Energy Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 14.10.2005) this region has become a focus for oil importing countries. Since this region has witnessed a variety of wars, conflicts, terrorist attacks and other disruptions that caused large losses of oil supply (Horsnell, 2000, p. 2) security issues in the Persian Gulf have become a matter of international interest in order to secure the oil supply from this region. In the following this paper will analyze major security issues in the Persian Gulf Area; such are inter-state conflict, the unsolved Israel-Palestine question, terrorism, as well as the problem of under-investment and domestic instabilities in some of the most important countries within the region. Furthermore, this paper will outline possible impacts of these security issues on the economic security in the rest of the world.