A common vision of energy risk? Energy securitisation and company perceptions of risk in the EU

Abstract

In the European Union, energy security is provided by EU institutions, member states and commercial energy companies. However, despite the important role companies play in the provision of European energy security, it is not immediately evident to what extent the interests of the internationally operating energy firms are in line with the energy security preferences held by EU institutions. Analysing this relationship from the perspective of perceptions of energy security and energy business risk, this paper examines the extent to which there is a convergence between the energy securitisation of the European Commission and the observation of business risk as perceived by major European and international energy firms. It finds that while there are some significant areas where Commission securitisation contradicts energy company interests (e.g. climate change and energy prices) there is also a high degree of convergence, in particular regarding perceptions of upstream political risk.