Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-22-Speech-2-289"
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"en.20070522.26.2-289"2
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".
These are issues that we have discussed previously: how to supply the European Union with sufficient energy resources. As you know today 50% of our energy supplies are covered by imports and we know that in the future the percentage will be even higher. It could be 65%, with more than 80% of gas being imported and even more oil, with over 90% being imported.
For this reason we will continue to work with all traditional suppliers. For gas it is Russia which today provides 27.5% of our supplies. Oil is supplied by Norway at 14% and Algeria at 12.5%. For this reason, we are interested in strengthening ties with traditional suppliers and obtaining more supply routes. Supply routes that deliver gas and oil are exposed to danger. I would mention a recent explosion in the Ukrainian gas pipeline system. That certainly had an impact on transport but, because there were other ways of delivering gas, it did not affect the EU internal market. However, it is very clear that having more supply routes is more beneficial for consumers.
EU dependency on Russia should not be over-emphasised because it is clear that, with Russia having the biggest gas resources as well as being one of the countries with the biggest oil resources, it is natural that supplies from Russia are topping our import list. The Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline is in my opinion a very important project because it bypasses the Turkish Straits. In this way, it reduces first of all the possibility of an environmental disaster and secondly it is an additional supply route to channel oil that is produced north of the Caspian to European markets. So, for this reason, this project also got support from the Commission because it is an additional supply route and it does not increase our dependence on Russia.
At the same time it is very important to diversify; first because relying on one supplier gives the monopoly supplier a chance to dictate the price but also because it gives an opportunity to influence consumer choices. For this reason the European Union has actively diversified its supply. One of the areas where we have been getting supplies this year is the Caspian Sea and Shah-Deniz in Azerbaijan, where we have established very good cooperation from the countries surrounding Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
Nabucco will be the next project that will be implemented. Nabucco is a more ambitious project. It will take a bit more time but we are well on track to obtaining supplies from this source through the fourth potential gas supply corridor. At the same time we are also diversifying oil supplies because a project has also been announced from Samsun to Ceyhan, an additional oil supply project that again will bring oil from the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea region towards the European Union.
We are encouraging cooperation with these countries around the world because, even if there are three big suppliers to the gas market – Russia, Iran and Qatar – there are other suppliers who could increase supplies. Norway will increase supplies to the European Union in the next few years by close to 50%. The same is happening with Algeria, which will provide additional supplies and more and more LNG terminals are coming on-stream.
For this reason, I believe that we should continue to work with Russia. We should continue to buy energy resources because, for Russia, the EU is the best possible market because it is the closest market and mutual ties have existed for some time, but for security of supply it is important to diversify.
Additionally, I would like to stress two further elements because it is never the case that you can rely only on imports. It is important to develop energy sources inside the European Union, to be extremely energy-efficient and to build internal energy infrastructure whether it be pipelines or electricity transmission lines. The European Union is very active in all these areas, even if we always recognise that each country decides on its own energy mix. But, through the instruments of the internal market and through the instruments given us by European legislation, we are encouraging the use of local resources and being very energy-efficient."@en1
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