Tag: oil and gas industry

The EU has adopted new laws aimed at increasing the transparency of government payments from the oil and gas industry, in a move U2 frontman Bono hailed as a "game-changing breakthrough" on corruption in resource-rich developing countries.

Canada is tarnishing its green image by lobbying on behalf of tar sands, labelled in the EU's proposed revision of the Fuel Quality Directive as more polluting than conventional oil sources, said Indigenous Chief Bill Erasmus, in an interview with EurActiv.

The European Union is intensifying its campaign to join the Arctic Council, hoping to wield greater influence over a region thought to hold huge undiscovered oil and gas reserves.

The European Parliament’s industry committee has rejected attempts to introduce a moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, overruling a contrary vote by its environment committee last month.

France's new Socialist government has been accused of bowing to big business and the energy lobby after the environment minister was removed from her post following her order to freeze international oil exploration off the coast of French Guiana.

As Syrian forces reportedly raided an eastern tribal region today (25 August), extending a crackdown on pro-democracy protests, the European Union is considering imposing sanctions on the oil sector as early as next week.

175,000 square kilometres of previously-disputed territory was finally carved up between Norway and Russia on Monday (6 September), after 40 years of negotiations with regard to exploiting the area for its oil and gas drilling potential.

Italy's Eni has offered to sell its international gas pipelines, worth some 1.5 billion euros, in a move that should help the oil and gas major avoid a hefty antitrust fine and ease regulatory pressure.

“EU energy policy towards Russia damages security of supply because it neglects the specific aims and propensities of Russia and Gazprom,” argues Evart Faber van der Meulen, Coordinator of EU Studies at Leiden University, in a recently published paper.

Billions of EU taxpayers' money have been pumped into the fossil fuel industry over the last five years, environmentalists have warned in a report published ahead of a European Parliament vote on the Union's proposed €5 billion economic recovery plan.

"A larger, well-interconnected market receiving supplies from a variety of exporters is expected to be the best insurance" against gas delivery disruptions, writes Arno Behrens, a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in a March paper.

EU energy ministers will meet today (19 February) to agree on six priority "axes" to strengthen Europe's energy security, including a yet-to-be-defined 'South Corridor' for gas, which is threatening to split Europeans over Russia's possible participation.

The European Commission has reacted cautiously to an announcement that Russia and Ukraine have resolved their standoff and will resume gas deliveries to Europe after signing a ten-year gas transit agreement.

Europe's fuel refining sector may be succeeding in its attempt to receive free emissions credits under the next phase of the EU's CO2 trading scheme, EurActiv learned in an interview with Isabelle Muller, secretary general of Europia, the oil refining industry association.

Surging demand in developing countries and global fossil fuel supply constraints are creating volatility in energy markets and will keep prices up over the long term, BP's Chief Economist Christof Rühl told EurActiv in an interview.

The European Commission stepped up its quest to diversify the EU's energy supplies on Wednesday (17 September), offering financial and political support for a €15 billion trans-Saharan pipeline to carry natural gas from Nigeria to European markets.

Top officials at the Commission and one of Central Europe's largest oil and gas groups yesterday (2 July) called for progress to be made on the Nabucco project, which aims to reduce Europe's dependency on Russian gas supplies. But they warned that its realisation would depend on "foreign policy scenarios".

Insufficient investment, political instability and blocked access to key oil and gas reserves have distorted the global fossil fuel market and driven up prices, according to the International Energy Agency, which has downplayed concerns about imminent oil shortages.

A €16 billion hostile bid by Austria's OMV for Hungary's Mol is meeting resistance from Budapest, which is drafting a law to prevent the takeover.  The European Commission said that it was monitoring the situation in view of a possible infringement of EU rules with respect to the free movement of capital. 

While oil resources are declining and countries are seeking to diversify their energy supply, there are large reserves of natural gas and an increasing number of uses to which it can be put. The future for gas therefore looks bright, argues Yves Mathieu in an article for 'Energies' magazine, a publication of the major French oil company Total.

The difficulties faced by developing countries in managing oil revenues efficiently and fairly, the requirements of economic liberalisation and pressure from evolving international standards have placed the governance of the petroleum sector in sharp focus, states this Chatham House report, published in April 2007.

On 23 June, Italian gas giant Eni and Russia's Gazprom agreed to cooperate on a new pipeline that will increase Russian natural gas flows to EU markets. The deal is widely seen as increasing the EU's dependance on Russian gas, and appears to run counter to European efforts to "speak with one voice" in external energy relations. 

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder visited Brussels in his new capacity as a high-rank advisor to the company created to operate the disputed Baltic Sea gas-pipeline project.

The Commission opened the debate on a future common European Energy Policy with the publication of a 'Green Paper' in March 2006. Suggestions include completing the opening of European gas and electricity markets and stepping up relations with major suppliers such as Russia and OPEC. Other key suggestions include boosting renewable energies, energy efficiency, and research on low-carbon technologies. However, EU member states have already made clear that they would not tolerate interference with national sovereignty, especially when it comes to taking sensitive political decisions such as opting for nuclear power.