Cairo – The recent strategy of diversification of sources of natural gas and renewable energy supply, adopted by the European Union (EU), due to the crisis between Russia and the Ukraine, may benefit the countries of the Middle East. The matter was covered in an article published in the most recent edition of weekly paper, Al Ahram Iktissadi (Al Ahram Economic).
This is currently one of the priority topics in the work agenda of the European bloc and is being discussed, formally and independently, with specialists, journalists and representatives of the public in general. So that the gas supply crisis to the European Union is not repeated in future, the bloc hopes to reduce dependence on countries like Russia, which is now responsible for 40% of the gas supply to the European countries.
According to the deputy head of the European Commission’s (EC) Industrial Sectors Unit in Brussels, Madeleine Tuininga, as reported by Al Ahram Iktissadi, the intention of the countries of the bloc is now to seek new suppliers, especially in the Arab countries, which have great reserves of natural gas.
According to Tuininga, the main points of the action plan to deal with questions like energy in the European Union were announced in early 2008 and present as horizons the year of 2013. "In 2010, the European Commission should be addressed as to how the promotion of this objective is being planned," she explained.
The EU Foreign Relations Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, also shows great concern with regard to the matter and explains, in a press statement issued by the EC delegation to Cairo, that the Europeans have noticed, over the last two years, that it is necessary to diversify their sources of gas and energy as a whole.
In a press statement, Waldner stated that in 2008 she participated in a regional conference in Charm Al-Cheikh, Egypt, aiming at introducing the Arab countries into the EC’s action plan. Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq were included in the list. The oil producing countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are also involved.
The commissioner’s press statement also shows that the first pillar of coordination work with these countries is based on bilateral agreements maintained between each of the countries and the European bloc. "It means harmonization of regulations that dominate this sector, characterised by monopolies and by an important part played by the state, in the countries of the North and the South of the Mediterranean," says the document.
Egypt, which has had an agreement with the European Union since 2004, recently signed an agreement for cooperation in the area of energy. The document forecasts reforms in this sector. "We are extremely interested in Egypt, as the country is now the sixth main global exporter of natural gas," said Tuininga to Al Ahram Iktissadi. "We know that in the country there are also two great liquefying plants," she added.
Despite being relatively far from the Mediterranean basin, Iraq is also included in the European plan. According to Waldner, there is currently in Brussels a tendency to encourage projects for gas transfer from the countries of the South to Europe. This tendency includes Iraq. For this reason, she says, the European Union plans negotiation of a bilateral trade and exchange agreement with the country.
Gas pipelines
But for the Arab gas to be transferred to Europe it will be necessary to invest in infrastructure. With regard to this matter, the Al Ahram Iktissadi article shows that two projects are forecasted in the countries of the South of the Mediterranean. The first is a gas pipeline crossing Tunisia, Morocco and Spain. It is a private sector project, but one that receives political support of the European Union. An agreement with a European Investment bank is also being discussed.
The second project is for development of the Arab pipeline, which begins in Egypt and crosses Jordan, Lebanon and Syria – countries that are members of the Union for the Mediterranean. The construction works are not yet completed, but the pipeline may transport to the European countries gas not only from Egypt but also from Iraq.
*Translated by Mark Ament
