Energy diplomacy began in the first half of the twentieth century and emerged as a term during the second oil crisis as a means of describing OPEC's actions.
Energy diplomacy emerged as a term during the second oil crisis as a means of describing OPEC's actions and of characterizing the quest for the United States to secure energy independence and the Cold War relationship between Russia and satellite states regarding oil and gas exports.
Despite the ontological hierarchy of the three concepts, it is a recurring theme for them to continuously intersect in practical diplomatic life and the geopolitical reality.
[4] The beginning of the 20th century was the early era of energy diplomacy, which was largely marked by corporate players.
Such diplomacy was dominated by the corporations that produced and distributed fossil fuel, rather than sovereign governments, as in the case of Royal Dutch Shell and Standard Oil.
Carving up the global oil reserves and markets was carried out persistently, alike during the 1908 negotiations between Royal Dutch Shell head Deterding and the US Standard Oil director Teagle; or on the occasion of signing the US “As-Is” Pool Association agreement in 1928.
[7] The governments were not too far behind, supporting them and often facilitating the race, but the influential corporations dominantly shaped the industry and foreign policy.
[4] The Post World War II era experienced fall of empires, rise of colonies, global shifts in geopolitical influence of UK, US, Russia and others.
The oil shocks after WWII were the ones that greatly contributed to the growth of security concerns and diplomatic efforts in the energy sphere.
Energy has entered the sphere of diplomacy and foreign policy as a result of its rising impact on national security and economy.
The industrial production and consumption capacities were smaller, and movement of energy was generally safe and dependable.
Access to energy resources has decided on war outcomes, security of supply shaped national and international agendas, oil and gas producing countries organized together into coalitions, tapping into the newly discovered energy resources to back their political and geopolitical goals.
The economic consequences were considerable, so energy had to be included on the list of security and foreign policy issues of states.
[16] It is a system of influencing the policies, resolutions and conduct of foreign governments and other international factors by means of diplomatic dialogue, negotiation, lobbying, advocacy and other peaceful methods.
This diplomatic activity has several other popular names like "geopetroleum politics",[18] or "petro–politics" (Dorraj and Currier, 2011),[19] or pipeline diplomacy (Aalto, 2008), but it mostly covers the same field.
The example is the energy diplomacy of an exporting state, Russia, who aims to secure access to buyers for oil and gas.
[4] This has initiated a huge shift in how energy is perceived, its toll on the environment and it prompted policies to curb climate change.
[45] China's energy diplomacy has covered a plethora of countries, such as, in the early years, Turkey,[46] and in later years the Middle East and North Africa,[47] with special regard to the Iran and Saudi Arabia conflict, where China's role in peace-building came under scrutiny.
[48][49] China's energy diplomacy with South American countries such as Brazil is an issue,[50] as is its relationship with Russia, which can be examined at the levels of personalism and institutionalism.
[55] Russia also pursues nuclear energy diplomacy, for instance with Finland and Hungary, via Rosatom.
[57] Its commercial energy diplomacy interests extend widely, beyond the traditional Middle East oil exporters to Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan.