Energy stability or a false sense of security: How changes in geopolitics, political economy, and markets alter the energy landscape

The Brookings Doha Center (BDC) and Brookings Energy Security Initiative (ESI) convened the fourth annual Brookings Doha Energy Forum in Doha, Qatar. This year’s Forum, from March 25-26, takes on the theme “Energy Stability or a False Sense of Security: How Changes in Geopolitics, Political Economy, and Markets Alter the Energy Landscape.

This private, closed-door conference was fourth in an annual series that examined the relationship between the Middle East, established energy markets such as Europe and the United States, and emerging Asian powers. This year’s Forum shed light on three principal themes: the changing geopolitics of energy, the implications of political and economic changes in the Middle East and Asia for energy production and consumption, and the shifts in global energy markets and their consequences for pricing. The Forum provided access to and engagement on these topics through a series of speeches, plenary sessions, and breakout group discussions.

The keynote address was given by H.E. Mohammed Bin Abdullah Bin Mutib Al Rumaihi, Minister’s Assistant for Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar. A high-level session followed, including presentations by H.E. Abdelkader Amara, Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, Kingdom of Morocco; Amos Hochstein, Special Envoy, Bureau of Energy Resources, U.S. Department of State; Toshihiko Fujii, Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Japan; and Stephen Lovegrove, Permanent Secretary, Department for Energy and Climate Change, United Kingdom.

The Forum convened prominent industry experts and policymakers from around the world for an in-depth discussion of the changing global energy landscape. Attendees include a range of high-ranking officials, experts, leaders of national oil companies, and representatives of the corporate sector.

Subsequent to the Forum, the Brookings Institution will publish the conference’s principal findings and a summary of its proceedings in the “Brookings Energy Forum Report.” Read the “Brookings Energy Forum Report 2014” here and the 2013 version here.

To coincide with the Brookings Doha Energy Forum 2015, the BDC will be providing advanced releases of these upcoming publications:

Naser Al Tamimi’s Navigating Uncertainty: Qatar’s Response to the Global Gas Boom

Gregory Gause’s Sultans of Swing? The Geopolitics of Falling Oil Prices

Chaoling Feng’s Embracing Interdependence: The Dynamics of China and the Middle East

Luay Al-Khatteeb’s Turn a Light On: Electricity Sector Reform in Iraq

These papers will officially be published in English and Arabic over the next two months.

 Join the conversation on Twitter using #DohaEnergy15.

About the Brookings Doha Energy Forum

The Brookings Doha Energy Forum is a product of the BDC-ESI Energy Partnership, which aims to address issues arising out of the nexus between the changing global energy landscape and the growing importance of local politics in the world. This collaboration links the expertise of the Energy Security Initiative with the Brookings Doha Center’s experience and scholarship on political transitions in the broader Middle East.

Furthermore, the Brookings Doha Energy Forum is the flagship event of the Brookings Doha Energy Platform, which undertakes a range of policy-focused activities and reports under the guidance of a full-time Doha-based energy fellow in collaboration with other research centers in the Middle East and Asia, the Brookings Energy Security Initiative, as well as Brookings India and the Brookings-Tsinghua Center.