Financial analysis of international energy trade: A strategic outlook for EU-15

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the international energy trade in EU-15. Within this context, 6 items of international transport and energy trade have been selected to evaluate the performance of European Union (EU) 15 countries. For this purpose, a comparative analysis has been applied by including and excluding the data of energy trade in international transport for the years between 2013 and 2016. In this framework, interval type-2 fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approaches are considered. The findings show that road and sea have the highest importance for international transport and energy trade. However, pipeline and electricity, which represent the energy trade, take place on the last ranks. Another important conclusion is that there is almost no difference in the ranking of international transport performance including and excluding energy trade. While considering these issues, it is recommended that that European countries should take some actions to increase the energy production. The main reason is that it has a positive influence on both international trade volume and industrial production. Thus, they can focus on renewable energy production which leads to lower cost in this process.