Triad Analysis of Global Energy Trade Networks and Implications for Energy Trade Stability

Shade T. Shutters, Keith Waters and Rachata Muneepeerakul
Additional contact information
Shade T. Shutters: School of Complex Adaptive Systems, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 872701, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Keith Waters: School of Complex Adaptive Systems, Arizona State University, 1800 I St. NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA
Rachata Muneepeerakul: Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, P.O. Box 110570, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: An international push to decarbonize economies has initiated a major transition in the global energy system and has begun to disrupt the intricate network of energy trade. As trade patterns begin to reconfigure, it is important that policy makers understand how vulnerabilities of the existing network may present obstacles to a smooth energy transition. We analyze the topology of the global energy trade network in aggregate, for various energy commodities, and for individual countries. Using the network science technique of triad analysis, which examines the prevalence of 3-node subnetworks in a target network, we calculate triad significance profiles for each network. We then analyze whether various triads are under- or over-represented in our networks and find that triads associated with stability appear more frequently than expected, whereas triads associated with conflict appear less frequently than expected. We further find that the global energy trade network is quite robust against disruptions, maintaining its topological characteristics even after random removal of 80% of the network’s nodes. However, when analyzing individual countries, we find that some exhibit a high prevalence of unstable triads or a low prevalence of stabilizing triads, suggesting that vulnerabilities in global energy trade are more pronounced in some countries than others.

Keywords: energy transition; global trade; networks; energy trade; energy security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/10/3673/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/10/3673/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:10:p:3673-:d:817661

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().