Every other month, the ELN hosts a Strategic Insight breakfast meeting in partnership with Salamanca Group. These gatherings bring together senior Ambassadors and business leaders, as well as a few leading ELN members, and are held off the record

Our January meeting focused on “Challenges to Energy Security” and was chaired by ELN member Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, former Secretary General of NATO and Special Adviser to BP. Energy security requires the stable supply of affordable energy, irrespective of political and economic challenges. Yet the energy landscape has experienced profound changes over the last few years. New technologies have enabled unprecedented oil extraction and major geopolitical events have tested the resilience of countries. Oil prices remain low, and for the first time in decades, the world’s largest oil importer, the United States, emerged as a net exporter in late 2018. Meanwhile, environmental degradation demands that governments and corporations take climate change into consideration, and intense debates over projects such as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline serve as a reminder of the interplay between energy security and geopolitics.

Renatas Norkus, Lithuanian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Brian Wilson, former Energy Minister, offered remarks.