Tag: security of supply

EU lawmakers agreed to speed up construction of new gas storage and interconnection facilities on Tuesday (13 July) in response to supply crises like those caused by the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute in 2008 and 2009.

Russia said it had resumed flows of crude to refineries in Belarus but it did not clinch a deal to resolve a tense price dispute with Minsk, which had raised fears that oil supplies to European Union countries might be blocked. The Russian press reported that Minsk is threatening to cut electricity supply to the Kalingrad enlave.

EU legislation on gas supply security has yet to set the right market obligations to ensure new infrastructure is built where it is needed, Jacques Laurelut, president of Gas Transmission Europe (GTE), told EurActiv in an interview.

The likelihood of renewed gas supply disruptions in Europe this winter has serious implications for the image of gas in the long run, Walter Boltz, chair of Austrian energy regulator E-Control, told EurActiv in an interview.

"Within a single generation, we can give Europe a truly sustainable energy system," writes EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in a February paper for the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.

Soaring demand, high oil prices and a "delayed supply response" from exporting countries have driven up natural gas prices in the past 18 months, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which warns that the situation is unlikely to improve in the short term.

Fear has spread across the globe and people are beginning to act on impulse to tackle issues such as the food crisis, so it is time to start using our heads, argues Norbert Walter in a 16 May commentary for Deutsche Bank Research.

Ukraine has agreed to settle a debt of $2 billion owed to Gazprom, calming EU fears about a possible repeat of the January 2006 gas supply crisis caused by a payment dispute between the Ukraine and the Russian energy giant.

EU leaders have agreed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by up to 30% within 13 years but the real battle will be in convincing the world's other big polluters to follow suit, according to business leaders.

The power failure of 4 November 2006 that affected more than 15 million households in various parts of Europe was the result of a lack of security measures within the network administered by E.ON, a report finds. 

The new Democrats majority in the US Congress has Europe speculating about a possible American U-turn on energy and climate-change policy. Is the US preparing for its own 'energy revolution'?

The latest issue of the German journal Foreign Policy in Dialogue focuses on Europe's efforts to form a common energy foreign policy from the perspectives of Germany, Poland, France and Lithuania.

By 2020, the EU should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% and produce 25% of its primary energy through renewables, according to a report adopted by the European Parliament on 14 December.

The 30 October EU-Russia Energy Dialogue Conference and a new report by the High-Level Group Competitiveness-Energy-Environment demonstrate that energy issues have become the EU's number-one priority.

The European Union and Japan have warned Russia that its suspension of an environmental permit for the Sakhalin-2 liquid natural gas plant could jeopordise good relations and future investments.

The announcement that new oil production has been succesfully tested in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico was hailed by experts as proof that oil has not yet reached its peak production, but many questions and concerns remain.

Concerns about Russia dominated an energy security debate amongst influential American and EU politicians and business leaders during the first annual Brussels Forum on 30 April.

Nuclear power lobbyists as well as green NGOs and renewable energy champions are using the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe to strengthen their case for or against a "nuclear renaissance".

Nuclear power cannot contribute to the need for more energy capacity and less carbon emissions, according to a report published by the UK's Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Audit.

On a visit to New Delhi, EU energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs stressed the similar challenges faced by major consuming nations, vowing to propose an international agreement on energy efficiency over the coming months.

The directive on security of electricity supply and infrastructure investment is part of the controversial 'energy package', which the Commission tabled in 2003 as a reaction to severe blackouts across Europe. Adopted in December 2005, the directive requires member states to define standards on the security of their power networks and seeks to increase interconnections between countries to enable effective competition between businesses in a liberalised electricity market.

Moving away from the traditional British scepticism about a common EU energy policy, Tony Blair has called for better co-ordination to tackle climate change and improve security of supply at EU level.

Addressing the European Parliament, Energy Commissioner Piebalgs reconfirmed his intention to reduce energy demand and accelerate Europe's use of alternative energy forms.

Under pressure from the growing possibility of street fuel protests, EU finance ministers hit out at OPEC and oil companies during their informal EcoFin meeting in Manchester.