The article covers the issues of energy security assurance when facing new challenges. It considers peculiar features of the current global development stage and their impact on forming approaches to energy security assurance. The paper shows that various countries (USA, EU, Asian OECD countries and Middle East states, China, India) understand and interpret energy security is different ways. The reasons of such differences are reviewed. The Russian position on these issues is specified.

Key words: energy security, energy policy, economic cooperation, challenges, geopolitics, global economic and energy sectors, energy resources, energy efficiency, EU, Russia, China, USA.