The paper addresses problems related to energy policies pursued by Central European countries. It identifies the amounts of energy resources in individual countries in the Visegrád Group as well as the transmission infrastructures they use for natural gas and crude oil. The author discusses projects aimed at diversifying energy supplies which are of key importance to V4 countries. The article also presents relations between those countries in both within the group and bilaterally. When outlining prospects of a V4 energy strategy, the account is taken of such vital aspects as relations with the Russian Federation and the contribution made by Visegrád countries to EU actions designed to develop a single energy market.

The end of special relationships between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia?

The Saudi special relationships with the U.S., unlike that of the U.S. with Israel, are mutually beneficial. Saudi Arabia sells about 10 million barrels of oil a day and all those transactions are denominated in American dollars, which helps that currency to perform the role of the currency of account (world, s currency) and has been of crucial help to the American ambition to dominate the global economy. On the other hand the United States did its part to uphold the relationship be granting the security to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil states. This was demonstrated for example in 1990 during Iraqi attack on Kuwait, that also menaced Saudi Arabia. At that time the U.S. deployed 400,000 troops in Saudi Arabia and expelled Iraqi troops from Kuwait. The priority of American foreign policy in that region has been to keep Gulf oil in friendly hands. Since the increase of the production of shale oil in the United States that priority has been less important. Another factor which has exerted an influence on the nature of the U.S.-Saudi relationship was the signing the permanent agreement with Iran in July 2015 on the limitation of the Iranian nuclear program and normalization of political-economic relations with the West. This has led to further worsening of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia alliance which has always been like a ”marriage of convenience” where behind the façade of friendship and harmony there is cold calculation of benefi ts and losses. That alliance will last as long as the potential benefi ts will still be bigger than possible losses.

Georgia, deprived of its own hydrocarbon resources, relies exclusively on the import. It has abstained from purchasing those from the Russian Federation for political reasons, which, combined with the lack of LNG terminal infrastructure, has led to the factual monopolization of crude oil and natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan. For geopolitical reasons, Georgia remains the only export route for Azerbaijan for these resources. Easy access to those resources due to its position as a transit state has an impact on the tempo of energy transformation in Georgia. On the one hand, the significantly lower than expected dynamics of the development of renewable energy sources, and on the other hand, the growing role of Azerbaijani national companies in the market of liquid fuels and natural gas in Georgia, are visible consequences of the emergent status quo.