The
regional conference on " Energy Security and Gas Supply in SE Europe ” convened
by IENE took place on March 12, in Vienna, bringing together executives from
several companies and senior government officials from Austria, Hungary,
Russia, UK, Bulgaria, Romania, Iran, Greece and Turkey, as well as
representatives from major international organizations,including OSCE, OPEC and
the Energy Community.
This
conference followed an initiative by IENE to broaden the discussion on key
energy security issues related to European gas supply in the aftermath of the
decision to abandon the South Stream project last December. The huge
implications arising thereof for European and regional energy security, as well
as developments related to other major regional and intraregional projects such
as the TANAP - TAP system and the IAP interregional pipeline, critical gas
interconnections, FSRU terminals , the potentialof setting up
regional gas trading hubs and also the recent discovery of substantial gas
quantities in the East Mediterranean, were fully covered by the conference
agenda. The technical, economic and geopolitical aspects of these issues were
hotly debated. This regional IENE event reviewed progress so far and analyzed
the impact that specific gas transit projects are going to have on the
economies and to the development of the region as a whole and how these may in
the long run affect European energy supply .
The
conference's first session focused on the role of gas in European energy
security, providing an overview of latest developments in gas supply and infrastructure
in SE Europe, examining the post South Stream environment and alternative plans
for routing Russian gas to Europe and assessing the proposed plan for
implementing a substitute gas pipeline, the Turkish Stream.
This
opening session was moderated by Mr. Costis Stambolis (Executive Director,
Institute of Energy for SE Europe - IENE, Athens, Greece) and Dr. Hans Hutta
(General Manager, International Center for Petroleum & Industrial
Management -ICM, Vienna, Austria). Important presentations were made by Mr.
Janez Kopac (Director, Energy Community, Vienna, Austria ), Ms. Beate Raabe
(Secretary General, Eurogas, Brussels, Belgium), Dr . Katja Yafimava (Senior
Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Oxford, UK), Dr. Andrey
Konoplyanik (Advisor to the General Director , Gazprom Export / Professor,
Chair "International Oil & Gas Business”, Russian State Gubkin Oil &
Gas University, Russia),andDr. Yurdakul Yigitguden (Co - ordinator
of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, Organization for Security and Co
- operation in Europe -OSCE, Vienna, Austria) were the speakers of this opening
session.
The
next session, on the effect of gas pricing in the European gas industry, was
co-ordinated by Dr. Hans Hutta. The speakers included Mr. Gottfried Steiner
(Chief Executive Officer, Central Europe Gas Hub, Vienna, Austria, and Mr.
Costis Stambolis, who between them analyzed the role of gas hubs in achieving competitive gas pricing and their
contribution in strengthening energy security. The session concluded with a lively
discussion on all subjects which were covered in the first two sessions of the
conference.
The
new gas supply sources and transit routes were the subject of the third session
of the which was moderated by Dr. Dimitrios - Vasilios Kokkinos (Chairman of
the Geopolitical Committee of IENE). Current and potential gas supply sources
for Europe, gas supply security considerations and the gas supply outlook in SE
Europe were the topics discussed in this session. Mr. Gokhan Yardim (General
Manager, Angoragaz Import Export Wholesale Inc., Ankara,
Turkey), Dr. Narsi Ghorban (Secretary, Environment and Energy Commission of the
International Chamber of Commerce -ICC, Tehran, Iran), Ms. Anca Mihalache
(Senior Analyst , Energy Policy Group -EPG, Bucharest, Romania), Ms. Eugenia
Gusilov(Director, ROEC, Bucharest, Romania), Dr . Anita Orban
(Former Ambassador at Large for Energy Security , Budapest, Hungary ) and Dr.
Lachezar Matev (Ambassador at Large for Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs ,
Sofia, Bulgaria) were the speakers of this session.
The
conference's last session emphasizedthe role of gas transmission systems,
gasstorage, LNG and co-generation in European energy security. Moderated
by Mr. Gokhan Yardim, this session included among its speakers Mr. Chris
Walters (Managing Consultant, Gas Strategies, London, UK), Dr. Michalis
Thomadakis (Member of the Board , Regulatory Authority for Energy - RAE,
Athens, Greece), Mr. Vladimir Djurovic (Manager Development Division Department,
Plinacro, Zagreb, Croatia) and Mr. Costas Theofylaktos (Senior Research Associate,
IENE, Athens, Greece). A round table discussion with the participation of all
speakers followed and the workings of the conference were closed with
concluding remarks by the organizers.
The
lead conference sponsor was Greece’s Public Gas Corporation (DEPA), while media
partners included the
Energia.gr
and See
News portals.