Energy Security in Balkan and Main Actors in the Energetic Sector in the Region

Energy security is one of the main factors that determine the contemporary international relations. Energy is crucial for the development of any society; therefore it occupies an important place in the hierarchy of political and economic agendas of the various governments. Nowadays energy sources are exhausting and the global demand and energy consumption is extremely growing. Such a situation leads right to what is known as ‘energy hunger’, a problem which affects every country, regardless its position. This is affecting both those who consume energy as well as countries which export energy or even transit countries where this energy passes through. Balkan region cannot bail out to such a situation where its geostrategic position and role or influence of Russia in the energetic sector in this region is determinant of the current situation. These factors also shape their future. he purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical approach on energy security in the Balkan region, identifying and analysing the role of Russia on this regard. Despite the importance of energy security, in contemporary literature there lacks a definition accepted by all actors on this definition. For this reason, in the field of energy security approach there are selected two operational concepts, ‘energy dependence’ and ‘diversification of energy sources’ which help in analysing the energy situation in the Balkan region, always taking into account Russia's role in the energy in this region. Data on economic and energy indicators, which refer to 2011 - 2012, have as their primary source the World Bank and the International Energy Agency.