Kurdistan’s role in European energy security

Abstract

The paper analyzes the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) natural resource strategies, such as how it deals with huge reserves of many trillion cubic feet of its natural gas as significant energy. Because natural gas belongs to the cleanest burning fossil fuels, with 30 percent less carbon than oil, it plays a role in the global fuel economy. As KRG transports its natural gas to international markets, like European countries, via Turkey it means they also participate in energy security as a new actor. Because the KRG is landlocked, strong factors may affect Kurdish natural gas strategies because KRG is surrounded by today’s partners and yesterday’s enemies politically and economically. Turkey, the neighbor of KRG, also buys its gas and has an influence on these strategies after the Ukraine crisis that pushed European countries to make a turn towards Caspian natural gas. Kurdistan is part of the best option for European energy security as it plans to diversify natural gas imports. While the KRG benefits from selling its natural gas directly to international markets, this will come with some struggles. Many of these obstacles can be classified into two types: internal and external obstacles, such as a conflict with the central government regarding how to share gas revenues. Others problems include Iranian neighbor interest on natural resources in Kurdistan and Russia that looks to Kurdish gas as its ally if Kurdistan joins the southern gas corridor pipeline.