What countries are likely to be most affected by the growing energy crisis?

With oil and gas prices higher following the US-Israeli joint strike on Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed to most vessels for the time being, new analysis has explored which countries are most exposed to the growing energy crisis.

The analysis, by Energy World Mag, examined 75 countries across seven different factors, including energy consumption relative to economic output, reliance on fossil fuels, diversity of energy sources, and levels of domestic production compared to imports, to determine the level of impact caused by global energy disruptions, with countries assigned a vulnerability score of between 0 and 100.

Vulnerability scores

Singapore ranked highest, with a vulnerability score of 85.2 – the city state derives 97.9% of its energy from fossil fuels, almost all of which is shipped in from overseas, meaning it has no backup options if supplies are disrupted. It also depends entirely on imported natural gas.

Turkmenistan, despite being a net energy exporter, relies entirely on fossil fuels for energy generation, and ranks second in the list with a score of 80.7. Hong Kong, another country with a high import dependency – it imports all its natural gas – places third, with a score of 80.2.

The remainder of the top ten includes Morocco, Belarus, South Africa, Iran, Cyprus, Algeria and Oman.

“The 2022 European energy crisis taught us that even wealthy countries with diverse economies can face severe shortages when they depend too much on imported fuel,” a spokesperson from Energy World Mag commented.

“Germany and Italy had to ration energy despite being among the world’s largest economies. The difference is that places like Singapore or Hong Kong have even less room to manoeuvre because they produce almost no domestic energy. When supplies get disrupted, they can’t just switch to local coal or increase their own gas production.” Read more here.

Top 50 Countries Most Vulnerable to Future Energy Crises