• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Joint Approach Needed to Ensure Global Energy Security

Posted on: Thursday, 16 March 2006, 21:00 CST

MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - A joint approach by G8 countries is needed to ensure global energy security, Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said at the opening of a meeting of G8 energy ministers in Moscow on Thursday.

"Key issues to achieve the designated tasks include resource sufficiency, economic and infrastructural accessibility and ecological admissibility," Khristenko said.

Khristenko said that as part of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in July this year, a document should be drawn up that would receive international acknowledgement and support, including outside the G8.

He said: "the St. Petersburg meeting should be a major milestone on the road to building a world system of energy security."

"In the 21st century significant growth in world energy consumption is unavoidable. This requires additional development of the resource base of the world's energy companies," the minister said.

He said that despite the inclusion of new energy sources in the energy balance, throughout the first half of the 21st century oil and gas will continue to be the backbone of world energy companies.

"As a result, we need a collective effort to expand and invest in the exploration and search for new fields of hydrocarbons onshore and offshore, and to increase the effectiveness of production and refining of oil and gas with the use of new technology," Khristenko said.

He said that to create an effective shock-resistant energy supply system major investment resources are required, totaling $17 trillion in the period to 2030, according to International Energy Agency estimates, a significant portion of which should be in production, transportation and refining of energy resources. "Joint efforts are needed to create conditions for the effective mobilization of these enormous funds and for their optimal use," he said.

He said that the mobilization of the investment necessary for the development of world energy companies is possible only if there is a favorable investment climate and predictable political situation, both in producing and consuming countries, and in transit states. "This requires developed, stable legislation, clear and consistently applied tax regimes, the absence of unjustified administrative barriers, the unconditional meeting of contractual obligations and access to effective procedures for settling disputes," he said.

Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English

More News in this Category