Abstract:

Energy resources are fundamental inputs in countries’ development in terms of economic, industrial and technical aspects and facilitating countries’ social lives. The sustainability of countries’ economies is possible with energy resources. The reserve levels and diversification of energy resources and accessibility to these resources steer the energy policies of countries. Another factor affecting these policies the transportation of oil and natural gas resources. Transporting hydrocarbon resources safely, diversity of countries’ energy kinds and commanding the energy market and routes increase countries’ economic and political power and their geopolitical and geostrategic importance. In this study, reserves of oil and natural gas that are the leading resources providing energy globally and locally, production and consumption of these resources, competition between countries in the energy market, geopolitical importance of production areas and globally powerful countries’ energy policies that are implemented to gain economic and political power were discussed. Even though interests of the US, Russia, China, Japan and EU countries sometimes clash, they come together with energy related agreements and projects. The US lifting the embargo on Iran is an obvious indication that the countries have entered a new era in energy policies. There is a great struggle between the US and Russia over world’s energy regions and pipe line routes in energy transportation. In this power struggle, China, Japan, Iran, EU countries and India are getting involved in this energy struggle on a regional and global scale. Keywords: Energy, energy geopolitics, energy sources, energy policy

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