The article aims to examine the links between Western interventions and energy security in the changing post-Cold-War political and market conditions. It has been assumed that the perception of energy security and the context of the energy market may have an impact on decisions to intervene in regions rich in raw materials. In analysing the dynamics of the post-Cold-War challenges and threats to energy security from the Western perspective, the article looks at three Western military interventions: the first Gulf War, Iraq and Libya, and it explores the energy dimension of these wars. In this context, it also considers to what extent the post-Cold-War interventions of the West can be embedded in the framework of mainstream research on the resource wars.