Event context    

The transatlantic political environment will be fundamentally transformed in early 2009. A new US Administration, led by President Barack Obama, will assume office in Washington, DC by late January. A few months later (in early April 2009), a new European Commission will be elected as well. Two months later, elections for the European Parliament are slated to take place.

These leadership changes on both sides of the Atlantic open much needed political space for a reassessment of the transatlantic partnership, and an analysis where joint leadership in global governance is necessary and feasible. Energy security is one of these issue areas. While Europe and the United States each have to deal with distinct challenges in their quest to ensure a reliable supply at reasonable cost, they do share a common dependency on oil.

Oil continues to stand firmly at the front and center as a source of energy for the transatlantic partners, and indeed for the rest of the world. In contrast to widely held perception, oil will remain a critical component of our energy mix, supplying an estimated 33 percent of global energy as far into the future as 2030. Hence, it remains the single largest fuel in the primary fuel mix and total consumption is expected to increase by 70 percent. Being a crucial component of the economic and social health of a nation, experts have referred to oil as a “hinge” upon which economic development is critically dependent. 

Not surprisingly, therefore, “black gold” has always been a politically charged commodity. Reliable access to oil at a reasonable cost has been, and will continue to be, of prime strategic value. This applies not the least to the transatlantic alliance. Both the EU and the US are and will remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels to power their post-industrial economies.

However, a number of significant, interlocking trends are currently transforming the framework conditions for global oil markets and require us to rethink the suitability and effectiveness of current governance arrangements that underpin the production, financing, trade and consumption of the resources. 1) The rise of new consumers (i.e. China and India); 2) The increasing role of state players on oil markets; and 3) The elevation of climate protection and domestic resource governance to “high energy politics”.

Together, these trends and their overall effect on the global oil market present significant challenges. It is crucial to determine exactly what implications these trends will have for the existing institutions and mechanisms of global oil governance, and what transatlantic partners can and should do to effectively deal with the resulting challenges.

Event objectives

This Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogue, organized in cooperation with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at Johns Hopkins University brought together professionals from all relevant sectors (governments, NGOs, business, the media, think tank and universities) in order to promote constructive debate on these issues through keynote speeches, panel discussions and working groups. The dialogue sessions are also designed to complement our research program on global energy governance and serve as an important forum for both presenting our ideas and receiving feedback.

The conference fills a critical gap in the current public debate on global oil in the US and Europe which focuses more narrowly on individual actors’ security considerations. In addition, the governance perspective with respect to the oil market is virtually absent in both the US and European debates on energy security.

Starting with an opening speech addressing energy security and the governance of global oil markets, the conference examined three main issues: (i) global and regional oil market trends (ii) implications of these developments on energy markets and actors; and (iii) energy policies of and cooperative approaches for the EU, the US and producing countries. Three panel discussions were held to address these main issues followed by the formation of small working groups which discussed some of the specific challenges and questions with respect to governing global oil.