Brussels, 13/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 13 July in Bratislava, the Slovak Minister for the Economy, Peter Ziga, highlighted the consensus obtained between EU Energy Ministers meeting up for their informal session on the question of liquid natural gas (LNG) in the diversification of the EU's energy cluster and security of supply.
At the end of the Council's work session, Ziga said “LNG is an area which has a considerable potential for the EU. Discussion for the first time at a top political level, our two days' debate showed that the implementation of measures for the diversification of gas resources through LNG is important for member states, mainly in terms of energy security”.
On the initiative of the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Ministers were called on to discuss the European strategy for LNG and gas storage, put on the table by the Commission last February (EUROPE 11484).
In an effort to develop the debates, the Slovak Presidency also invited the President of the European Parliament Energy Committee, Jerzy Buzek and the Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs at the US State Department, Amos J. Hochstein to attend.
Maros Sefcovic, the Commission Vice President in Charge of the Energy Union, said, “By 2020, the volume of LNG on the market will increase by 50% and we will see LNG prices that are similar to those for gas from the gas pipelines. This will have an enormous impact on the gas market and gas will become a global commodity. This will give consumers a better choice”.
The Commissioner added that in an effort to strengthen gas supply security, “the EU must continue with the construction of infrastructure and interconnections, particularly the north-south link and the development of several LNG terminals in Greece and Croatia, as well as, in particular, the development of links between LNG capacity in Spain and the main energy corridors”.
He concluded that “during our discussions we all agreed that we needed to focus more attention on building the necessary infrastructure. In the past, it took up to 11 years to build a grid. We can no longer afford that luxury. We have to pool our efforts so that infrastructures are built as soon as possible”. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)