Brussels, 26/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is preparing an exhaustive and global analysis of the oil market, which will not be ready for next Friday's session of the Ecofin Council, but is aimed at the Biarritz Summit on 13 and 14 October (after a preparatory examination by the General Affairs Council). At the same time, the Commission is continuing the preparation of the Green Paper on the Union's energy supply, the place of various energy sources, the reduction of energy dependency, etc. document which will be ready before the end of the year.
The Commission spokesperson furthermore added that the EU oil product reserves exceeded the obligatory levels; the European average reserves correspond to 111 days of consumption while the obligatory amount is 90 days. All the Member States respect their undertakings, except the minor failures in Belgium and Greece. The Commission has not yet formulated an opinion over the opportunity of using part of these reserves to reduce the pressure on crude oil prices. It underlines that the reserves have the aim of tackling a supply crisis, which is not the present situation, and that they must take into account several factors: the effectiveness of the measure, the right time, the fact that reserves do not belong, in general, to States but to private companies, etc. The EU's situation is not similar to that of the United States.
The Friday Ecofin Council will have an exchange of views on the situation and could in this context also raise the issue of the possible use of part of these reserves. Though the opinions of the Member States are not, on this issue uniform, according to various statements by the authorities responsible.