Actors of the Global Energy Market

At the beginning of the 21st century, states are by far not the only participants in the global energy market, although they are still the principal ones. Publicly traded energy corporations, especially with a transn ational status, play a huge, constantly growing role. Some of them already have much larger economic potential than many states. Two trends are intrinsic to the present corporate sphere. On the one hand, the number of energy companies is decreasing due to mergers and acquisitions provoked by intense competition. On the other hand, ongoing liberalization alongside a new international focus on green energy and unconventional hydrocarbons bring about the creation of new energy business entities all over the world. International governmental and nongovernmental institutions, including clubs and forums, continue to make their tangible contribution to the solution of international energy issues. The need for immense financial resources (e.g. to develop costly offshore deepwater or shale oil and gas deposits) to cope with growing world energy demand involve a bulk of major, predominantly transnational, banking institutions in the sphere of energy supply. Numerous investment funds, and even individual investors who influence the commodity prices and market capitalization of corporations, should be also named “financial participants” in the global energy market. Their manipulations, often speculative, can provoke both positive and negative tendencies not only on the stock exchanges, but also in the real economy. Any destructive forces (separatists, sea pirates, or terrorists, particularly international ones) which disturb energy supplies should be automatically classified as energy market participants. Additionally, ensuring energy security requires access to all energy-related information as well as possession of advanced energy technologies to produce energy cost-effectively, including from sources which were previously unreachable. This expands the circle of participants in the global system of energy supply by involving leading media holdings and news agencies, think tanks, service companies, and technologies suppliers.

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