ATHENS - The recent developments in Ukraine highlight energy security and diversification of supply sources as two sensitive areas of European energy policy, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) said on 5 May in Athens.
Niki Tzavela from Greece, a rapporteur on the European energy strategy 2025 and shale gas, repeated EU concerns that the 28-country bloc relies too heavily on Russian gas supplies.
“Given the recent developments in Ukraine, we are here to highlight these two sensitive aspects of the European energy policy: energy security and diversification of supply sources. In average EU receives 60 to 70% of its energy from Russia. At the same time, we have developments on the other side of the Atlantic so the global energy map is revisited and redrawn, given that the US expects its energy independence to be valid by 2035 – thanks to shale gas,” Tzavela told a conference on Europe and the Arab World in the framework of the Greek EU Presidency.
The status quo of traditional energy suppliers is changing and that will affect mainly the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market place, she said.
Alleviating Europe’s dependence on gas supplies from Russia - a problem exacerbated by the crisis in Ukraine – will be further discussed when the Group of Seven (G7) leaders meet at a summit in Brussels on June 4-5.
On 4-5 May, the G7 energy ministers met in Rome where they discussed ways to strengthen collective energy security. The energy ministers released a 13-point plan that foresees greater gas pipeline network connectivity, reverse flow pipelines and investment in gas storage facilities as well as low-carbon energy supplies and energy efficiency improvements.
The United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and Italy resumed G7-format meetings in March, after Russia was expelled from the Group of Eight (G8) forum due to its support for separatists in Ukraine.
“In this [June] meeting we will discuss alternative supply options that will reduce dependence on Russian hydrocarbons,” Tzavela said.
“I have been appointed president of the European taskforce that will work with the American Congress and the respective committee on energy and these two committees will discuss energy issues,” she said, reminding that and energy is included in the EU-US free-trade agreement. She added that exporting natural gas from the US during the crisis in Ukraine is a major topic.
However, there are technical difficulties as the US infrastructure was destined to import hydrocarbons, not exporting them, she said.
The MEP predicted, however, that “probably in the near future we will start exporting natural gas and oil from the US to some European states”.
In addition to the shale gas revolution, Tzavela also said the expansion of the use of natural gas and the development of southeastern Mediterranean and Aegean fields will “help Europe become an important player in the geopolitical developments in the region”.
Meanwhile, Panagiotis Mihalos, Secretary General for International Economic Relations at Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the same conference that the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that will bring gas from the Caspian region through Greece, Albania to southern Italy will put “Greece into the energy landscape of our broader region”.
“The situation in Ukraine has highlighted the need for energy security and diversification, thus our proposal for a vertical corridor linking south and north Europe – a network of interconnectors between the national natural gas grids that will be fed by the pipelines that transport gas coming from east to west such as TAP and possibly East Med but very importantly also the LNG terminals to Greece,” he said.
Mihalos explained to New Europe on the sidelines of the conference that the vertical corridor will consist of the Interconnector Greece - Bulgaria (IGB), the Gas Interconnection Bulgaria - Romania (IBR) and gas connections through the four Visegrad states: Hungary, Slovakia Czech Republic and Poland. “These interconnectors, some of which are ready or planned to be constructed, will allow transporting gas from the south to the north of Europe with minimal interventions,” he said.
See also:
EU mulls reverse gas flow possibilities
EU seeks to reduce energy dependence
Putin Tells EU: There’s No Free Ukrainian Gas
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