EU, Russia Agree to Warning Mechanism to Prevent, Manage Energy Crises
November 18, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
The Nov. 16 agreement includes a clear definition of the circumstances that would trigger the activation of the mechanism in terms of what constitutes a "significant disruption of supplies," whether due to maintenance of relevant infrastructure, accidents or commercial disputes.
The new mechanism covers oil, natural gas and electricity, and includes three basic steps: notification, consultation and implementation.
In practice, it is foreseen that the EU and Russia will send notification about any likely oil, gas or electricity supply interruption, including an exchange about an assessments of the situation.
The mechanism would then encourage the parties to hold consultations or, if needed, make a common assessment of the situation and a joint plan for a solution. Third parties would be allowed to take part in the arrangement.
"An energy crisis like the one the EU suffered in January is harmful for supply, transit and consuming countries alike. We need to do everything necessary to make sure that such a situation never happens again," said EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. "I'm confident that the implementation of this mechanism will be a powerful tool to prevent, in any event, the transit or export of energy to the European Union being reduced or cut off."
During the last EU-Russia Summit in May 2009, the EU and Russia agreed to start negotiations on the proposal for an Early Warning Mechanism written and adopted by the European Commission (EC), which formed the basis for this new memorandum.
The EU and Russia also issued the tenth progress report of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue at the same time they signed this new memorandum.
Source: European Commission (EC).