The Cost of Neglecting Energy Security

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Governments must keep gas central to their energy strategy, or geopolitical shocks will continue to disrupt supply, drive volatility, and destabilize the global economy.

Energy security is not a side issue to address only during political or market crises. It is a strategic essential. When neglected, its effects do not stay within the energy sector. They spread through supply chains, into prices, and across the economy. In a more uncertain world, energy security must be treated as a permanent obligation of sound public policy.

That is why the present crisis must be understood correctly. The world is not short of natural gas and low-emission gases, whether pipelined or liquefied. What we are witnessing today is not an availability crisis. It is a crisis of supply security shaped by geopolitical prerogatives, where energy itself has become the victim. The question is whether infrastructure is strong enough to deliver gas where and when it is needed, at a cost consumers can afford. Years of underinvestment have made that question harder to answer than it should be. 

Gas remains an indispensable part of the global energy mix. It is plentiful, efficient, and versatile. It reliably supports electricity systems worldwide; is vital for heating, industry, and fertilizer production; and underpins a wide range of petrochemicals and manufactured goods. It is also increasingly important to digital infrastructure, including artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers, whose need for continuous, high-quality power is rising faster than many existing systems and deep-decarbonization scenarios are prepared to accommodate.

This is especially true across much of the developing world. There, increased use of natural gas is integral to a lower-emissions future because the practical alternative is often not idealized capacity built on renewables alone, but continued reliance on more carbon-intensive fuels such as coal, weaker grids, and constrained industrial growth. Energy policy must begin with physical reality, not abstract preference.

The Strait of Hormuz illustrates the vulnerability with unusual clarity. On an average day, between 100 and 130 ships pass through it. Roughly 30 percent of the world’s traded fertilizers move through that route, together with oil, key petrochemical feedstocks, liquified natural gas (LNG), and sulfur. It is not merely an energy chokepoint. It is a pressure point for agriculture, manufacturing, and trade. A disruption on that scale does not remain confined to commodity markets; it affects farms, factories, ports, supermarkets, national budgets, and, ultimately, consumers.

Yet for too long, the world behaved as if vital routes would always remain open and stronger safeguards could safely be deferred. That assumption is now colliding with reality. Recent attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East are a reminder that these assets are vital not only to economic activity but to confidence in the wider system.

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The deeper problem is that the security of supply was allowed to fall behind other policy priorities. Ideological views too often impeded investment in infrastructure that could have lessened the impact of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. The result has been persistent underinvestment in pipelines, LNG terminals, storage, regasification capacity, shipping, and the reinforcement of critical infrastructure. Regulatory policies, however well-intentioned, must not create further uncertainty by discouraging investment in Gas supply and infrastructure.

The market data makes the point plainly. In 2015, around 34 percent of global LNG exports were produced west of the Strait of Hormuz, principally in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). By 2024, that share had fallen to 20 percent. That points to a more diversified supply base. But diversity of production is not, by itself, security. Without reliable delivery, diversity means little for security.

The global gas market no longer reacts in a single way. Europe is mainly a storage-and-refill market. Northeast Asia focuses on replacement cargo, power, and industrial security. South Asia prioritizes affordability and curtailment. Africa is a monetization-and-domestic-prioritization market. North America balances domestic needs with exports. Latin America is an indirect competitor in the Atlantic basin. The Gulf serves as a deliverability-and-restart market. Stress in one region is now transmitted quickly to others through prices, cargo rerouting, and bottlenecks.

The policy response should therefore be clear and transparent. To mitigate shocks like the current one, policymakers must not hinder investment in energy infrastructure, including LNG and pipelined gas projects. To meet growing and emerging demand, targeted investment in Gas is essential—not as a replacement for renewables, but as a strategic complement to them. That includes gas storage, which helps markets manage seasonal shifts, absorb short-term shocks, and guarantee reliable delivery.

Governments need to place security of supply back at the center of energy strategy. Gas should not be dismissed as a mere bridge fuel. It is one of the foundations of a secure, affordable, and lower-carbon global energy system, which is what makes affordability possible, competitiveness durable, and lower emissions credible. Without reliability, countries are left more exposed to disruption, volatility, and dirtier or less reliable alternatives. In a world where geopolitics and geoeconomics are increasingly inseparable, the capacity to withstand shocks must be recognized for what it is: a strategic imperative.

About the Author: Menalaos ‘Mel’ Ydreos

Mel Ydreos is the secretary general of the International Gas Union, a professional association representing the global gas industry with more than 130 members in over 70 countries, covering over 90 percent of the global gas market.

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© The National Interest