Brussels, 23/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Friday, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said he favoured energy and energy investment being covered by World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules: 'Bringing the sector under the umbrella of the World Trade Organisation would force oil and gas producers to provide free access to transport infrastructure.' His comments are aimed at Russia in particular, criticised by its G8 partners for its attitude regarding the Russian giant gas monopoly Gazprom, protecting its monopoly access to oil and gas fields despite Russia being in the final stages of negotiating its entry to the WTO. 'This proposal would take years to develop,' admitted Mandelson, because the current trade round, launched in Doha in 2001, has not yet been concluded. Energy producing countries other than Russia were also likely to find that granting greater foreign access to distribution networks ran counter to their interests,' added Mandelson, but felt that it was under the WTO that such negotiations would be the most relevant and would have the most chance to ensuring 'structural changes' in an area so important to different countries. The Wall Street Journal noted that within the Doha Round of talks, some countries had called for extending coverage to oil and gas services, and that the products themselves were already covered.