ABSTRACT
There is no further need to stress the importance of energy for the global economy. It is critical however to be aware that any policy decisions about energy should be based on a sound knowledge of the facts about the international energy industry. Apart from the strictly technical aspects of energy sources (calorific factors, production technologies, pollutants content by fuel and so on), the other fundamental feature of global energy is the unbalanced geographical distribution of reserves, production and consumption, so that international energy-related trade flows become essential for the energy security (see Chapter 2) of most countries.
