National energy security depends on a stable network of international trade in not only primary energy (e.g., crude oil and natural gas) and secondary energy (electricity), but also embodied energy. The latter consists of both direct energy used to directly produce a final good (e.g., crude oil used to make synthetic rubber), and indirect energy incorporated in intermediate goods and services used to make a final product (e.g., coal used to smelt iron into steel that goes into the frames of cars). While studies have analyzed international trade in embodied energy, the global flow of the indirect component of this energy has not been explicitly examined. Here we develop and apply a new hybrid input-output database of energy flows within and among the world’s largest 136 economies so as to compare and contrast energy security metrics of indirect energy against direct energy. We find that 23% of the world’s embodied energy network is comprised of trade linkages in indirect energy between primary energy producing countries and other countries with which they do not have direct trade ties. We also find that the global economy is 90% more dependent on imports of indirect energy than direct energy and, unsurprisingly, that countries generally have many more trading partners in indirect energy than they do in direct energy. These differences in energy security metrics are assessed at the global, sectoral, and national levels over the years 2000–2015. The differences point to critical intermediary country nodes in the global trade network of indirect energy, principally the United States, China, and Russia.

国家能源安全取决于稳定的国际贸易网络，不仅包括一次能源（如原油和天然气）和二次能源（电力），还包括物化能源。后者既包括用于直接生产最终产品的直接能源（例如，用于制造合成橡胶的原油），也包括用于生产最终产品的中间产品和服务中的间接能源（例如，用于将铁冶炼成进入汽车框架的钢材）。虽然研究分析了具体能源的国际贸易，但尚未明确研究这种能源间接成分的全球流动。在这里，我们开发并应用了一个新的混合输入输出数据库，该数据库包含世界上最大的 136 个经济体内部和之间的能源流动，以便比较和对比间接能源与直接能源的能源安全指标。我们发现，世界上 23% 的具体能源网络由初级能源生产国和其他没有直接贸易联系的国家之间的间接能源贸易联系组成。我们还发现，全球经济对间接能源进口的依赖程度比对直接能源进口的依赖程度高 90%，而且不出所料，与直接能源相比，各国在间接能源方面的贸易伙伴通常要多得多。2000 年至 2015 年间，在全球、部门和国家层面评估了能源安全指标的这些差异。