By Chryssa Liaggou
Southeastern European countries are taking a more active role in securing the continent’s energy supply, following the common statement by the energy ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council (BSECC) for the creation of a regional electricity and natural gas market.
The “Alexandroupolis statement,” named after the northern Greek town where the 12 ministers met Friday on the invitation of Greek Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas, is a significant political agreement for deepening cooperation and development of member states. It will also promote major energy projects that involve Greece, such as the natural gas pipelines linking Turkey with Greece and Italy, and Greece with Slovenia and Austria, as well as the oil pipeline from the Bulgarian port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis.
The agreement, signed by all BSECC members (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia-Montenegro, Turkey and Ukraine), prescribes BSECC’s future cooperation with the EU, involving the interconnection of the new market with the European electricity networks.
Forecasts about the trebling of demand for natural gas and oil by 2015 upgrade the role of countries by the Caspian Sea and the broader region in production, carriage and consumption. The EU seeks to secure its energy supply and therefore follows developments in the region with great interest, while Greece, the sole EU member in BSECC, also holding the body’s rotational six-month presidency until May, plays a crucial part, in the process trying to transform itself into an energy junction between East and West.
Sioufas stated that the message sent to the meeting by EU Energy Commissioner Andries Piebags was very important, as he emphasized the need for the countries of BSECC and the Energy Community in Southeastern Europe to strengthen their relations and cooperation and stressed the significance of this agreement for the region, when it is signed in the next few months.
The joint statement is summarized in two main points: first, the determination of OSEP member states to cooperate in the creation of a common energy market. This will be translated into the states’ political decision for interventions and project initiatives regarding their energy interconnection as well as the creation of institutional bodies to operate a single market. Second, the decision of the region’s two bodies (BSECC and the Energy Community in Southeastern Europe) for their cooperation aimed at networking with the single and competitive market in Europe.
Under the Alexandroupolis agreement, member states agree to secure free and safe transport of all forms of hydrocarbons throughout the area, to create a single, regional electricity and natural gas market, and to speed up the connections of their national electricity grids.
Sioufas also conveyed a message by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and exalted the considerable benefits the creation of a single regional energy market would have.
On the sidelines of the meeting, some very encouraging messages emerged concerning energy infrastructure projects in the region, particularly about the long-delayed Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline to carry Russian crude oil. Russia’s Deputy Industry and Energy Minister Ivan Materov openly expressed his support for the project just before the visit by a Greek delegation, under Deputy Development Minister Giorgos Salagoudis, to Moscow this week to take part in a meeting with Bulgarian and Russian officials, ahead of the three governments’ signing of a political agreement for the project.
In addition, Turkey spoke in favor of the natural gas pipeline to be constructed through Greece. This is set to begin in May.
(Kathimerini)