A Conceptual Framework to Establish and Operate a Global Logistics Energy Hub

• Published in: Sustainability Vol. 13; no. 19; p. 10976
• Main Authors: Hammad, Mahmoud A., Elgazzar, Sara, Sternad, Marjan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2021
• Subjects: Citation management software; Energy consumption; Energy industry; Energy resources; Geopolitics; Hubs; Literature reviews; Logistics; Natural gas reserves; Obstructions; Oil reserves; Research methodology; Security; Supply chains
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su131910976

Energy-consuming countries are affected by obstructions in supplies or conflicts that may occur along the energy transit path. Hence, the presence of a global logistics hub for energy acting as a connecting bridge between energy-supplying and energy-consuming countries can overcome such troubles, support the sustainable flow of energy, and achieve the overall operational efficiency of the energy supply chain. However, establishing a global energy hub is a complicated issue, especially in the absence of a clear approach for this. Through conducting a systematic literature review on 36 papers over the past two decades, we identified the key determinants for each player in the energy supply chain and proposed a leading and integrated conceptual framework for establishing and operating a global logistics energy hub, with a particular focus on oil and gas. This article contributes to knowledge by providing a comprehensive review targeting energy hubs from a logistics perspective, as previous studies have addressed energy hubs from other perspectives such as political, legal, and security perspectives, while the logistics perspective has not been tackled comprehensively. Moreover, the suggested framework can be then used by further researchers to develop the performance of energy hubs. Practically, this framework can be employed to identify the requirements for a country to become a global energy hub.