India: The Emerging Energy Player

Chapter I

Energy Security: The Changing Global Context

Energy security concerns have been articulated in the global context where hydrocarbon enjoyed dominance in the energy mix and the major importers were few. Energy was brought into the security domain for the first time in the seventies when oil-exporting countries decided to determine the price of oil by mutual consultations under the aegis of the organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This was described as the rise and assertion of commodity power and was even perceived as a threat from the ‘oil cartel’.¹ It acquired a strategic dimension when the organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) declared an embargo on oil shipments to the united States as retaliation ...