An approach to the concept of energy security: its link to Chile’s energy policy

Abstract

Energy has become the premier global strategic issue. It is not just that currently energy influences the dynamism of the world economy, global geopolitical stability and our environmental future at a global scale, but also that it looks like the energy issue will not be pushed back into the background for at least several decades. Accordingly, understanding the scope of energy security is crucial since it can be defined differently by each analyst. The reason for this is that we are dealing with a multidimensional concept (economic, political, geopolitical) that can be defined at the short, medium and long term, from the point of view of production, taking into account the different stages of production, exploration, development, extraction, transportation and refining. At each of these stages events may occur that can have an effect especially on those countries that are dependent on imported energy inputs.