Energy Infrastructure Security Research Articles

Transforming Cybersecurity into Critical Energy Infrastructure: A Study on the Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence

This work explores the integration and effectiveness of artificial intelligence in improving the security of critical energy infrastructure, highlighting its potential to transform cybersecurity practices in the sector. The ability of artificial intelligence solutions to detect and respond to cyber threats in critical energy infrastructure environments was evaluated through a methodology that combines empirical analysis and artificial intelligence modeling. The results indicate a significant increase in the threat detection rate, reaching 98%, and a reduction in incident response time by more than 70%, demonstrating the effectiveness of artificial intelligence in identifying and mitigating cyber risks quickly and accurately. In addition, implementing machine learning algorithms has allowed for the early prediction of failures and cyber-attacks, significantly improving proactivity and security management in energy infrastructure. This study highlights the importance of integrating artificial intelligence into energy infrastructure security strategies, proposing a paradigmatic change in cybersecurity management that increases operational efficiency and strengthens the resilience and sustainability of the energy sector against cyber threats.

Security of Energy Infrastructure

Security of Energy Infrastructure

Critical Energy Infrastructure: Operators, NATO, and Facing Future Challenges

IntroductionCritical infrastructure enables modem society. It includes our communications and Internet, our banking systems, the means of safely delivering our supplies of food and water, health systems, defense installations, transportation networks, air traffic control systems, and logistics and port facilities. It also includes our energy and electricity supply. Power generation plants, electricity grids, and diesel, gasoline, oil, and natural gas distribution networks underpin our entire infrastructure. Critical energy infrastructure is the single most important part of the complex web of critical infrastructure. Without energy-particularly the regular supply of gasoline and diesel-no other element of our critical infrastructure can operate. This was clearly seen in the northeastern United States during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. That is why the priorities in the wake of the storm were first to reestablish power, and second to restore transit systems (buses and subways). Governments and relief organizations quickly realized that only then could other infrastructure, such as hospitals, become operational again.Threats to our energy infrastructure increasingly take different forms. They can arise from environmental hazards (as in the case of Hurricane Sandy, or the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan); industrial accidents; deliberate sabotage; and consequential sabotage. The latter two examples are closely connected, and will be explored further below.The Challenge of Energy SecurityThis article will highlight a threat to NATO's energy infrastructure that has been a concern for many decades. This threat is energy security. In 1912, the British Royal Navy converted its ships from coal to oil. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, said Safety and certainty in oil lie in variety and variety alone. The United States and the U.K., with its oil fields in the Middle East, became the world's oil suppliers. That situation, however, was soon to change, a fact of which U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt was aware. In 1945, Roosevelt met with King Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud, securing U.S. access to Saudi Arabia's oil output. Today the biggest potential challenge in terms of energy security is supply. There is a vast amount of oil, coal, and natural gas in the world. Each day, however, the world uses approximately 86 million barrels of oil. Daily world production is exactly that figure: 86 million barrels. So even a small 2 percent reduction in output caused by, for example, a crisis in Libya, has an enormous effect on the global price of oil. When such problems occur, only Saudi Arabia has the ability to quickly make up the deficit in the supply. The world economy is therefore enormously vulnerable to even a small drop in production.The security of the oil producing regions is vital to the NATO Alliance. In rural Iraq, it costs USD 15,000 for a family to connect to the electricity grid - an impossibly large amount. These communities, however, see vast oil wealth around them. It is vital that they are not tempted to work with those who want to damage the oil production infrastructure. It is particularly important-for our own security-that the international community help ensure that local communities in oil-rich countries benefit from their national energy resources. These benefits should include schools, hospitals, and infrastructure that oil revenues can bring, as well as help in fighting corruption. Once corruption starts, it is very hard to stop, as Nigeria's government has discovered. Corruption becomes ingrained in the whole system. Improving our energy infrastructure security means ensuring that communities in the Middle East and Africa do not have to turn to terrorist groups such as Boko Haram to feed their children. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), established by BP's John Browne when he was the company's chief executive, is the ideal way to help ensure that oil money benefits the right people. …

Addressing pipeline security regime of the prospective regional energy hub Turkey

Approximately 35 per cent of the world's oil and 75 per cent of its natural gas output are being transported through pipelines. This has rendered the security of critical energy infrastructures (CEIs) such as pipelines as a vital issue of concern, even more so following the events of 9/11. This is the case for transit countries located in the Near East, such as Turkey, where the security of energy infrastructure is at stake daily. Although concerns are growing about a tight energy market with chronically volatile high oil prices and a lack of reliable energy resources, states and companies cannot afford to keep their CEIs unprotected. This is an important issue for net energy importer Turkey with its pledge to become the fourth largest energy artery of Europe and its growing energy thirst. In the light of these, the paper argues that it is vital for Ankara to address the kinds of threats (that is, terrorism, vandalism, theft) that Turkey's energy pipelines face on the way to becoming a regional energy hub.

The security of energy infrastructure and supply in North Africa: Hydrocarbons and renewable energies in comparative perspective

While security risks to energy infrastructure and supply are frequently cited as a source of concern in the public debate on Europe’s energy relationships with North Africa, few academic publications have addressed the issue to date. This article focuses on two potential threats to energy security in the North African context: first, intenational disruption of energy supplies by governments; second, attacks by non-state actors on energy infrastructure. Based on an analysis of North African security and energy geopolitics, the article provides an assessment of these threats as they have materialized with regard to existing energy industries, particularly oil and gas. The article then seeks to apply the findings to renewable energy schemes that are currently being discussed and developed, gauging the likelihood and impact of such threats materializing in respect to various technologies, and differentiating between different states of the region. Finally, the article provides recommendations for policy and further research needs for a successful common European–North African energy future.

A Portrait of Complexity: New Actors and Contemporary Challenges in the Global Energy System and the Role of Energy Infrastructure Security

This article analyses the emergence of new actors and contemporary challenges that have increased the complexity of the global energy system and brought to light the significant role of energy infrastructure security. Working in two parts, the article first provides a general overview of ONG supply-demand trends and the role of energy infrastructure (EI) in production and transport activities. The second part examines new security-risks to EI by exploring similarities and distinctions of natural and human-caused threats to EI. The argues concludes that energy infrastructure security will become a centerpiece in future energy security debate due to the growing dependence on ONG imports from conflict-prone supplier and transit regions as well as the vulnerability of EI to natural disasters brought on by climate change.

Table of Contents

Abstract Features CO2 Restrictions in Current Legislation Cause Huge Price Increases Matthew S. Preston Finance High Stakes in Market Screening Mechanisms Robert E. Willett Finance—Organization Bridge between Finance and Production Is Information, Not Culture Change Ralph Sargent Finance—Taxation New Community Service‐Related Tax Credit Applies to Energy Projects Howard V. Golub Columns End‐Users Georgia Gas Unbundling Reveals Tension between Federal and State Law Edward J. Grenier Jr. Infrastructure Security Issues Bush Administration Out of Touch with Energy Infrastructure Security? Alan M. Herbst

Table of Contents

Abstract Features Too Much LNG Terminal Capacity to Be Built? Glen E. Sweetnam Outlook—Cross‐Border Current Mexican Environment to Mean Special Developmental and Financial Methods Frank Hawkins Outlook—Pipelines and Rates FERC's 2005 Role Stimulating Supply and Infrastructure to Be Important Richard G. Smead Outlook—LNG New Development Shows LNG Terminals without NIMBY Problems Can Exist Michael M. McCall Columns Electric & Natural Gas Distribution Energy Policy Struggles Continue in 2005 Dana Contratto End‐Users Will 2005 Be the Year We Move Forward on Energy Policy? Edward J. Grenier Jr. Security 2005 Energy Infrastructure Security Not a Red or Blue Issue Alan M. Herbst