Energy is arguably the most valuable traded commodity in the world. Unlike most other commodities, energy resources are essential for economic and military activity and therefore have unique strategic importance, especially because states vary widely in their energy resource endowment. The social sciences, and political science in particular, have developed advanced quantitative techniques and datasets for analyzing geopolitical and economic phenomena. Such tools carry tremendous potential to further our understanding of global markets, especially the interactions between energy markets and political events at local, national and international levels.