18 June 2004 13:15
IEA SAYS STATES HAVE ROLE TO PLAY DESPITE COMPETITION ON GAS MARKET
Gas supply security has improved with open markets but governments must continue to play an important role in this
area, says the International Energy Agency (IEA). States must make market mechanisms work and ensure that coherent
investment policies are applied, the Executive Director of the IEA, Claude Mandil, said at a press conference. The
opening of gas and electricity markets, the rise in world gas consumption and the emergence of global trade in liquefied
natural gases (LNG) are a challenge to new market mechanisms in terms of ensuring security of gas supply, he said. The
new role of governments, which in the past often directly or indirectly controlled the sector, is to define political
objectives and the responsibilities of each player, Mr Mandil said. He urged governments to make sure that their
regulatory, legislative and tax frameworks allowed operators to invest, regretting that this was not at all the case
today and warning of the risk of a waning sense of responsibility alongside market liberalisation.
According to the agency, North American gas dependence will move up from 1% in 2000 to 26% in 2030 and that of Europe
will grow from 36% in 2000 to 69% in 2030. The IEA recalled that gas reserves were highly concentrated geographically in
the former Soviet states and the Middle East. Claude Mandil warned that "as long as there is a production monopoly
in Russia, markets will be unbalanced and market mechanisms will not function properly”. The IEA said Europe will be
increasingly dependent on Russia for gas and that local operators should therefore be diversified.
[Europe Energy] |
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