So the major obstacle to the development of new supplies is not geology but what happens above ground: international affairs, politics, investment and technology.

Even Silicon Valley investors have put well over a $1 billion in new energy technologies.

According to one study by the United States Geological survey, 86 percent of oil reserves in the United States are the result not of what is estimated at the time of discovery but of the revisions and additions that come with further development.

In a world of increasing interdependence, energy security will depend much on how countries manage their relations with one another. That is why energy security will be one of the main challenges of foreign policy in the years ahead. Oil and gas have always been political commodities.

So the major obstacle to the development of new supplies is not geology but what happens above ground: international affairs, politics, investment and technology.

The starting point for energy security today as it has always been is diversification of supplies and sources.

First, we have to find a common vocabulary for energy security. This notion has a radically different meaning for different people. For Americans it is a geopolitical question. For the Europeans right now it is very much focused on the dependence on imported natural gas.