Abstract

OSWALD, Úrsula. Energy Security, Availability, and Sustainability in Mexico. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2017, vol.62, n.230, pp.155-195. ISSN 0185-1918.

This article explores a sustainable concept of energy security based on the wellbeing of the Mexican society that is able to fulfill the NDC committed to UNFCCC in 2015 and ratified in September 2016 by the Senate. It first analyzes the concept of energy security in the international context and then for Mexico examines globally the evolution of hydrocarbon extraction, conflicts, geopolitical pressures on oil prices, and the impact on public finances in Mexico and its oil company Pemex. The political-military approach of energy security reviews the increase of illegal actors involved in the robbery of fossil fuels. The article shows that energy security is not only a military-political issue, where powerful pressures of global actors affect oil prices by manipulating supply and demand. On the contrary, the text proposes that the current crisis in oil prices opens for Mexico the possibility to promote its abundant renewable energy potential (wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, and biomass). Further, the restructuring of Pemex towards an efficient enterprise would stimulate public investments. Therefore, a holistic concept of energy security integrates human, environmental, economic, gender and societal security. This may open for Mexico the possibility of a long-term energy policy, based on sustainability, equity, and collective citizen’s welfare.

Keywords : sustainable energy security, geopolitics of oil; international oil prices; renewable energies; citizen, public and private investments in energy, Pemex.

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