28Received 12.11.2025. Revised 26.12.2025. Accepted 02.03.2026.
Abstract. The destructive actions taken by states and non-state actors, aimed at destroying or causing substantial harm to single energy facilities or the entire energy complex of target states, have been systematized and classified in the article. The author focuses on both historical and modern cases. Methodologically, the research is based on historical, systematic and comparative analysis, as well as on the case method. As a result, the author has come to the following conclusions. Cosidering the types of international confrontation, destructive actions aimed at the energy complex of target countries can be undertaken in classic or hybrid wars; they can be elements of “negative energy diplomacy”, encompassing energy sanctions, imposed energy prices and simply “energy blackmail”, or a manifestation of terrorist, separatist and pirate activities. From the perspective of classification, the energy-related destructive actions can be committed by states and/or non-state actors; be open or hidden; carried out with the use of direct (contact) or indirect (non-contact) methods; be aimed at destruction or just non-destructive negative impact. In the course of the study, the relevance of the proposed systematization and classification was probed on a range of cases, including the bombing of the Romanian oil industry by the U.S. Air Force in August 1943; the Arab OPEC countries’ decision to impose in October 1973 an embargo on oil supplies to countries that supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War; the seizure of the Moscow University oil tanker by “Somali pirates” in May 2010; the anti-Russian “energy sanctions” imposed by the Western countries in the context of the conflict in Ukraine since 2014; Iran’s threat to block the Strait of Hormuz in July 2018; the sabotage committed against the Nord Stream‑1 and Nord Stream‑2 gas pipelines in September 2022; the attacks carried out by the Ukrainian military on the TurkStream gas pipeline in January 2025. The results of the study can contribute to the development of an effective international response to existing destructive actions in the global energy industry.
Keywords: destructive actions, energy sector, energy diplomacy, energy sanctions, energy terrorism, conflict in Ukraine, USA, Russia, OPEC, EU
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