Global power at a boundary of 2016: fight for resources, a competition aggravation

Abstract

The world market for energy resources (after a balanced period) has become greatly depressed since mid-2014 due to multiplicity of factors, some of them specially purported politically. Amid technological progress some new opportunities of saving fuel or facilitating its extraction as well as committing to renewable resources have appeared. The United States focusing on shale oil and gas production have undertaken to achieve energy self-sufficiency and succeeded in getting imported share down from 24 to 13 %, whereas the EU raised their share of renewable fuels to 7,5 % of consumption. However, the anti-Russian policy of «sanctions», initiated by the USA, had an adverse affect on the energy market causing slickening in the rate of energy growth - from 2,4 % in 2009-2014 to 0,9 % in 2014. There was almost a threefold decrease in the prices (from $110 per barrel to less than $30 – daily quotations - by January 2016). Traditional trade routes were changed and some promising projects cancelled. The statistics given in the paper shows the developments in the global energy market.