China is today the third largest importer of crude oil in the world. Since 1993 when the country’s consumption of oil first exceeded the capacity of its domestic production, China has become a net importer and has witnessed a growing appetite for oil during the past decade. Energy security has been given enormous emphasis in the country’s foreign policy making, and is believed to be one of the most important components of China’s foreign policy in the 21st century. While enough ink has been spilled on the assessment of what China’s energy security policy looks like, few scholarly inquiries have been made into the domestic sources of China’s energy security policy. The purpose of this article is to reevaluate such a policy by identifying the different domestic stakeholders and analyzing how the potential divergence between the state and the oil companies influences the final policy outcome.

This thesis examined the Nigerian Domestic Gas Supply Obligation (DGSO), a policy formulated to enhance domestic natural gas supply for the improvement of electric power generation and supply in Nigeria. Using the theories of property and energy security, the thesis established legal justification for the formulation of the DGSO. Also, comparisons were drawn from countries, such as Indonesia, Western Australia and Egypt, which implemented policies similar to the DGSO. Challenges found to confront the successful implementation of the DGSO ranged from gas producers’ contractual commitments to non-existent comprehensive and pragmatic legal framework for the DGSO. The thesis concluded that with cost-reflective natural gas and electricity pricing, investment incentives and stability, adequate and secured infrastructure, effective implementation and monitoring institutions, backed up by a clear-cut regulatory framework and a strong-willed government, the DGSO could still realize its objectives of contributing immensely to the improvement of power generation and supply in Nigeria. / October 2015

The world faces two major energy-related challenges: reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and improving energy security. Wind-electricity, a clean and environmentally sustainable energy source, appears promising. However, its intermittency is problematic when used as a supply for on-demand electricity. Wind-electricity can be used for space heating when combined with thermal-storage systems; although its intermittency can result in periods of excess electricity. To reduce the excess, this thesis proposes using wind-electricity for thermal-storage and electric-vehicles. Four charging procedures are designed and developed. Data from an eastern Canadian wind-farm is used to demonstrate the procedures. The results are compared and discussed in terms of the supply of wind-electricity and its ability to meet the energy requirements of these services. Depending on the procedure, wind-electricity displaced between 20 and 26 GWh of energy previously required for space-heating and transportation, demonstrating that wind-electricity, with intermittently-chargeable loads using storage, is a solution to the intermittency problem.

All jurisdictions have an energy system consisting of processes responsible for the conversion and transportation of supplies of energy from various sources to meet the end-use energy demands. Energy systems are dynamic as they respond to uncertainties such as higher energy costs, new energy technologies, public concern over the environmental impacts of energy production, evolving consumption patterns, and the aging of existing infrastructure; these changes can affect the energy suppliers, the end users, and those responsible for operating the energy system. To reduce possible adverse effects and improve the energy security of the system, energy policies are often designed by those responsible for the processes. However, changes to the energy policies can also impact the system’s energy security. Therefore, it is critical to study the possible effects of changing energy policies before they are deployed. To address this problem, a visualization tool has been developed to represent a jurisdiction’s energy system. The tool allows the effects of changing energy policies on energy security to be analysed. A case study using real-time wind data from the City of Summerside has been implemented to demonstrate the capabilities of the tool. This presentation will elaborate on the methods and implementation of the visualization tool and explain the results obtained from the analysis of the Summerside project.

The research compares the energy security approaches and strategies of China and the EU since the early 2000's. It examines the nexus between strategies and approaches of the two actors and it seeks to highlight the importance of domestic issues such as energy security governance and domestic politics. In addition, it sheds light to the notion of hedging which has become recently a buzzword among political scientists. Finally, it takes a critical position towards the mainstream dichotomy between strategic and market-based approaches to energy security. Despite their structural differences, China and the EU share similarities regarding their conceptualization of energy security. Interestingly, both sides have based their perceptions on perceived and contested energy security risks. Hence, in the mid-2000's, the two actors securitized energy due to external factors such as the Russia-Ukraine gas crisis and the so-called "Malacca Strait dilemma". Domestic factors however served as a transmission belt and they determined the process of how these external challenges shaped their energy security perceptions and eventually their strategies. During the last years of the examined period, Beijing and Brussels have adopted more comprehensive and sophisticated approach. Their declared adherence to market-based principles reflects among others their interest in self-identifying as liberal actors. The latter has been a global trend among states. Furthermore, it is concluded that their energy security strategies have distinct differences as well as certain similarities. For many years, issues such as the "Malacca Dilemma" and the European dependence on Russian gas have played an important role to the energy security strategies of China and the EU. Again, the two actors have been incorporating strategic and market-based policies in their energy security strategies that aim at their domestic markets as well as abroad. In order to analyse the energy security perceptions of the two actors, the research assumed that China and the EU have been adopting a hedging strategy. While their behaviour has the characteristics of hedging, a basic difference between the two actors is that for China hedging is a strategic choice while for the EU hedging is a combination of policies adopted by different actors. As a result, while it can be accepted that China has been implementing a hedging strategy the EU has been merely pursuing a hedging behavior. The distinction between hedging strategy and hedging behavior stands as one of the theoretical contributions of this research. Finally, the research chooses the Caspian Sea region as a case-study in order to examine the energy security strategies of China and the EU. Both actors have been seeking access to the Caspian energy resources in order to hedge against their energy insecurities. Their approaches however are fundamentally different as China has established a strong foothold in the region adopting mainly mercantilistic tactics while the EU has been facing important hardships as a result of domestic setbacks that limit the effectiveness of its resource diplomacy as well as due to political incompatibility with the Caspian states. Using the Regional Security Complex Theory as a conceptual starting point, the research approaches the Caspian Sea region as an energy security complex where China and the EU have been also integrated. The research analyses the energy security strategies of China and the EU within the Caspian complex applying the theoretical framework of neoclassical realism. This theoretical novelty can be evaluated as successful and as a result, the research has established an alternative theoretical approach to regional security complexes.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the way that growing demand for oil in China will influence the nation's energy security in its various aspects until year 2035. It is shown, that growing oil consumption in China is an irreversible trend that significantly endangers energy security both in the long-term and the short-term aspect. Consequently, author recommends steps that could eliminate or moderate those threats. Recommendations are than compared to actual policies of the Chinese government. The thesis reveals that China is making an effort to minimize risks to energy security by upgrading its domestic resilience and by using so called Oil diplomacy to secure its present and future petroleum imports. However, as insufficient were proved to be actions to preserve the environment.

The thesis focuses on the oil security of China. The China became net oil importer in 1993 and so the focus of the thesis is on this date. The second chapter introduces whole energy situation of PRC and explains the importance of oil for China's economy. The third chapter identifies clue countries and regions for China's oil imports and their political stability. Using these information, the thesis measures the level of security of Chinese oil imports from the clue countries between the years 1996 and 2012.

This work analyzes the most important factors that exercise the biggest influence over the shape of energy system in the following decades in the European area with a focus on electric grid. Based on the analysis the possible futures and probable trends are discussed in the Conclusion.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(エネルギー科学) / 甲第22793号 / エネ博第407号 / 新制||エネ||78(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 宇根﨑 博信, 教授 石原 慶一, 教授 黒崎 健 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Energy Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

The paper studies the theoretical and practical application of public relations to the geopolitical nature of international energy projects in order to expand our understanding of the energy sector's domination of the current political and social environments. More specifically, the paper analyses how energy companies that exhibit close links to the state are able to create and cultivate beliefs in the legitimacy of their exploitation of society's resources in pursuit of their country's national political interests. The focus of the paper is a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the competition for legitimacy between Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH and Gazprom's South Stream Pipeline. The paper analyzes the discursive competition between the two pipelines over existence in, and legitimate domination of, the European discursive space. It then compares constructed narratives to quantitative factors that shape the European energy market and technical and financial specifications of each pipeline on the basis of its ability to adequately meet European energy demands and enhance European energy security. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how Nabucco and South Stream have been able to overcome discursively their technical and financial shortcomings to become perceived as geopolitical tools in a...