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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (3908)	4/13/2006 11:24:44 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24213

Europe urged to curb demand for oil and gas By Carola Hoyos in Paris Published: April 11 2006 22:16 \| Last updated: April 11 2006 22:16 The energy watchdog of the world’s biggest economies has called on the European Commission to set maximum energy consumption standards for electrical equipment such as light bulbs and washing machines. Europe needed to do more to curb its oil and gas demand in light of increasing fears over supply, Claude Mandil, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said. Continuing civil strife in Iraq and Nigeria has already seriously reduced both countries’ oil exports, and the threat of US military action against Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, has driven prices to new records. Mr Mandil also raised fresh concerns about the reliability of supply from Russia, the world’s second biggest oil producer, saying it could fall short of IEA expectations over the next four years. “One of the most important ways to increase energy security is through energy efficiency and the market signals for that are not big enough,” Mr Mandil said. “I don’t think goals and targets in shares of renewables or in decreasing energy consumption is a useful tool. We think the [European] Commission could be bolder on norms and standards. It’s within its responsibility.” He calculated that such a move could save by 2030 as much as 30 per cent of the amount of energy the world needs for everything but transport. On Russia, Mr Mandil acknowledged that IEA expectations for Russian oil supplies to 2010 had been overly optimistic. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the cartel that supplies 40 per cent of the world’s oil, would have to fill a gap to avert a significant increase in oil prices, which were already “too high”, he said. Analysts have in the past year reduced their growth estimates by half. Russia was likely to supply at best 180,000 barrels of production growth this year, compared with the IEA estimate that of Russian growth of more than 300,000 barrels a day, one senior supply analyst said. The US Department of Energy on Tuesday forecast even lower growth rates for Russia, predicting increased export taxes would hinder investment. “Growth is not high on Moscow’s agenda,” the senior analyst said, adding that Russia’s policies were damping production growth of private Russian companies. Mr Mandil said that although Russia had historically been “a very reliable natural gas supplier, we are now looking more closely at it because of the recent problems with its exports to the Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, because of what happened with Yukos”. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has in the past two years consolidated his power over Russia’s biggest energy companies, including Yukos, and limited the participation of foreign companies to minority stakes in Russian natural resources. In January, Russia suspended gas supplies to Ukraine over a pricing dispute, disrupting European supplies. Mr Mandil said the relationship between the IEA and Moscow was still good, but said: “I would like to have better figures and conversations with our Russian colleagues. When you are concerned and when you do not have enough information to alleviate your concerns, your concerns just increase.” news.ft.com