(44.200.39.110)
Users online: 13671     
Ijournet
Email id
 

World Affairs
Year : 2006, Volume : 10, Issue : 1
First page : ( 184) Last page : ( 186)
Print ISSN : 0971-8052.

Speech by Minister-Counsellor of the embassy of the Russian federation to India, Mr Andrei A Sorokin at the international seminar on the CIS: Energy, security and development

New Delhi, February 16, 2006

 

Ladies and gentlemen!

First of all I would like to express my pleasure to be with you at this International Seminar ‘The CIS: energy, security and development’ and have the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience.

Russia is important to world energy markets and ensuring global stability including energy stability of CIS region because it holds the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves and the eight largest oil reserves. Russia is also the world's largest exporter of natural gas as well as the second largest oil exporter.

Currently Russia exports over 90 per cent of its energy to Europe but in the upcoming years its share will decrease while the share of Asia countries will grow.

Russia gives a special attention on global energy security issues and proposed energy security and energy efficiency to be on the top of the G8 agenda. Russia suggested taking a broader look at the energy problems and proposed launching a comprehensive dialogue between major energy producers and consumers to ensure continuous and adequate supply of energy resources at acceptable prices. G8 Finance Ministers in their turn backed Russia's proposals during G8 working meeting hold recently in Moscow.

Russia suggests discussing the following main issues of global energy security during its G8 presidency:

  • Reliable supply of traditional hydrocarbons resources to the world economy at reasonable prices.

  • Diversification of energy supplies through the use of new sources of energy. Enhancing the efficiency and safety of power engineering.

  • Creating conditions for transition to a fundamentally new, ecologically clean power engineering.

We need to decide on a common approach to the following comprehensive issues:

  1. The stabilisation of energy markets, which entails: a) developing global and new regional energy markets; b) ensuring market predictability through broader use of long-term contracts and dialogue between energy producers and consumers; c) ensuring greater access to and transparency of data on reserves, demand, stocks and production capacities.

  2. Enhancing investment into energy sector, including improvement of the investment climate and introduction of insurance mechanisms and distribution of financial risks.

  3. Spurring effective development of power engineering and energy infrastructure which provides for: a) raising the effectiveness of exploration, production, deep processing and use of hydrocarbons reserves, including their non-traditional forms; b) diversifying transportation; c) developing gas-fuelled power engineering, including the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG); d) ensuring the physical safety of energy facilities and infrastructure.

  4. Power engineering and the environment: a) elaborate measures to enhance energy efficiency and conservation; b) develop safe nuclear power engineering, including with a closed fuel cycle; c) step up research and introduce the latest advances in power engineering (hydrogen, thermonuclear, renewable, low carbon energy, etc.); d) introduce effective ecologically clean transport systems.

In that way, the above measures, taken together, constitute Russian vision of the main global security issues on the G8 agenda in the long term. Some of the measures are the follow-up on the energy issues on the G8 agenda, and the Russia welcomes this continuity. This is a kind of a relay baton. Ecological security, which has become the key issue during Great Britain's presidency, is closely connected with energy security.

However we should not go to extremes. We need to arrive at compromises between environmental problems and existing conditions for economic development, which should take into account the specific features of all market players, both hydrocarbon suppliers and consumers.

The G8 is to discuss global energy security issues. There are plans to approve a general political declaration formulating main goals and tasks in the energy sphere as well as an indicative action programme of their implementation.

It is also should be emphasised that long term energy security issues require comprehensive actions on the part of all players in the global energy market. It would be expedient to study the possibility of discussing, charting and consistently implementing various measures that would enhance energy security. These efforts should involve countries, major suppliers of energy resources as well as countries posting the highest energy consumption growth levels.

At the same time Russia starts from the premise that the world's energy market must follow transparent and clear-cut rules. Russia has published its Energy Strategy and abides by its provisions. Russia doesn't conceal information concerning its fuel and energy sectors’ development, production volumes and regions of production, pipeline construction plans and its other actions that can influence the global and regional energy situation. Russia is open to its partners for cooperation in the field of energy security and efficiency. We trust our partners and expect them to behave in a similar way.

Russia believes that the stability, security and sustainability of the CIS energy economy cannot be ensured without solving the problem of global energy security. Only by balancing this issue at the global, regional and national levels we can correctly identify, diversify and meet the risks of economic development.

Russia reckons that an effective management of non-political risks in the hydrocarbon sector of the economy is possible only through a comprehensive attainment of the following goals:

  • Greater access to and the transparency of data on reserves, demand and stocks;

  • Market predictability through broader use of long-term contracts and dialogue between energy producers and consumers;

  • Efficient development of the energy infrastructure in the interest of the market. For its part, Russia is prepared to assist in the task of ensuring energy security and hence reduce risks in the following ways

  • Increase export, including to CIS countries

  • Diversify the commodity structure and increase the volume of more highly—processed commodities (Russia will ensure higher processing of hydrocarbons and increase the share of high-quality petrochemicals and oil and gas products);

  • Expand the export geography on conditions of economic expediency (Russia is creating an infrastructure to link new oil and gas production centres in Siberia and the Far East to the countries of Asia-Pacific region. The creation of a port infrastructure for Sakhalin-I and Sakhalin-II projects and the construction of the East Siberia-Pacific Coast oil pipeline will make Russia's hydrocarbon reserves available to most Asia-Pacific countries).

  • Take steps to stimulate foreign investments into Russia. A relevant example is the successful implementation of the Sakhalin-I project, where India, USA, Japan are the major partners.

  • Develop new forms of international cooperation and create mechanism for coordinating the state policy of regulating foreign trade in the energy sphere.

I would like to stress again that the formulation of the global energy security concept, which the G8 colleagues are to work on, would be impossible without the consolidation of efforts and the involvement of the basic hydrocarbon exporter and consumer countries, including in CIS region.

I believe this Seminar will enable us to discuss ways to further strengthen energy security and sustainable development in the CIS region and in the world as a whole and bring participating countries even closer together.

In conclusion I would like once again to greet all the participants of this meeting and wish success in their work.

Thank you for your attention.

Top

 
║ Site map ║ Privacy Policy ║ Copyright ║ Terms & Conditions ║ Page Rank Tool
733,058,778 visitor(s) since 30th May, 2005.
All rights reserved. Site designed and maintained by DIVA ENTERPRISES PVT. LTD..
Note: Please use Internet Explorer (6.0 or above). Some functionalities may not work in other browsers.