Mexico had the lowest energy security risk and Ukraine the highest among the top 25 global energy consumers, the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century said in a new index.
The US ranked seventh and Canada eighth in the institute’s inaugural International Energy Security Risk Index.
The country-by-country index combines domestic resources with efficiency and other consumption patterns to arrive at estimates using 28 measurements.
The international index, covering 1980-2010, built on the institute’s US Energy Risk Index, which was launched 5 years ago.
Karen A. Harbert, the institute’s president, the international index provides a new tool to help make sense of changing world energy markets.
“While the index rankings will no doubt spark debate, we hope that [it] will enrich the energy security debate at home and abroad,” she said.
Energy security risk among countries is growing, but disparities between countries are getting smaller, Harbert said.
“Emerging economies such as China and India have increased their energy demand and, consequently, risk,” she said.
US Energy Information Administration Administrator Adam Sieminski said the international energy risk index will be useful.
“It’s a quantitative, country-by-country approach which is valuable for starting a conversation about the risks our country and others face,” Sieminski said
It contrasts with traditional measurements such as crude oil maritime choke points, unplanned supply interruptions outside the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries, and OPEC members’ crude oil production surplus capacities, he said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
