International energy markets

This paper assumes that there are two geopolitical trends in the issue of energy security in Asia. First, the US has been imposing an anti-geopolitics of the international energy market through its domination of maritime geopolitics. Since principal energy commodities such as hydrocarbon resources are strategic assets and they are located at instable parts of the world, the international energy market's ability to ensure energy security through anti-geopolitical logic is limited. Second, Asian terrestrial geopolitics has begun to challenge the former. Due to their rising vulnerabilities to energy disruptions and price fluctuations, China and India have been unwilling to place their full trust in the market. Therefore, they have been searching for ways to ensure their energy security. Recently, they have begun to consider themselves as energy partners, rather than rivals. In that regard, they have begun to cooperate in acquiring market risk-free equity oil. In the context of the declining American energy security guarantees, the stage is set for China and India not only to intensify their ties on energy security issues but also to cooperate with Russia and Iran, which have found much space to manoeuvre out of American dictates in the age of high energy prices, for an alternative Asian energy market.