US energy policies creak in a changing world

Accepted wisdoms crumble due to energy independence, a capricious administration, Middle Eastern adventurism and the rise of China

You cannot over-estimate the impact of the shale revolution on US policy. So said veteran energy expert Edward Chow at the Flame conference in Amsterdam in May. Nor is he the only energy strategist to see the US approach to the global energy market and its interaction with the wider geopolitical environment changing or needing to change. An import-dependent US was very much allied with its partners in Europe and Asia, says Chow, now a senior associate for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). But, with the US becoming a major refined products and gas exporter, and well on its way to being a net exporter of crude, the "close energy security alliance and alignment has disa