Energy Security in a Resource-Rich Economy: Case of Iran

Energy security is an evolving concept that is defined based on national potentials, needs, and concerns. The concept is defined differently from the viewpoint of importers and exporters (resource-rich economies), and it is still evolving and dynamically changing aligned with energy market revolutions and crises. Most energy security reports investigated energy importers’ concerns since the history showed fluctuations from the supply side initialize remarkable changes on the demand side, as the system behaves chaotically. This chapter studies energy security from the perspective of resource-rich economies and shows how it is going to be an emerging challenge in near future. A new framework to map energy security is proposed to investigate it holistically. The framework is broken down into components, and they were discussed. We believe existing policymaking paradigms cannot answer future challenges and therefore need to be revised. Also, during the time and due to technological advancement, development of new energy sources, and environmental concerns, energy security of fossil fuel resource-rich nations is challenged, an issue that has not been experienced before. In this chapter, new dimensions of the energy security concept are discussed. Also, Iran as a resource-rich economy has been investigated and an initial set of policies are proposed aimed to address emerging energy security-related challenges in the case of resource-rich economies. However, it seems that energy security will be an open question that needs active cooperation from both supply and demand sides.