The regional conference on " Energy Security and Gas Supply in SE Europe ” convened by IENE took place on March 12, in Vienna, bringing together executives from several companies and senior government officials from Austria, Hungary, Russia, UK, Bulgaria, Romania, Iran, Greece and Turkey, as well as representatives from major international organizations,including OSCE, OPEC and the Energy Community
The regional conference on " Energy Security and Gas Supply in SE Europe ” convened by IENE took place on March 12, in Vienna, bringing together executives from several companies and senior government officials from Austria, Hungary, Russia, UK, Bulgaria, Romania, Iran, Greece and Turkey, as well as representatives from major international organizations,including OSCE, OPEC and the Energy Community.
This conference followed an initiative by IENE to broaden the discussion on key energy security issues related to European gas supply in the aftermath of the decision to abandon the South Stream project last December. The huge implications arising thereof for European and regional energy security, as well as developments related to other major regional and intraregional projects such as the TANAP - TAP system and the IAP interregional pipeline, critical gas interconnections, FSRU terminals , the potentialof setting up regional gas trading hubs and also the recent discovery of substantial gas quantities in the East Mediterranean, were fully covered by the conference agenda. The technical, economic and geopolitical aspects of these issues were hotly debated. This regional IENE event reviewed progress so far and analyzed the impact that specific gas transit projects are going to have on the economies and to the development of the region as a whole and how these may in the long run affect European energy supply .
The conference's first session focused on the role of gas in European energy security, providing an overview of latest developments in gas supply and infrastructure in SE Europe, examining the post South Stream environment and alternative plans for routing Russian gas to Europe and assessing the proposed plan for implementing a substitute gas pipeline, the Turkish Stream.
This opening session was moderated by Mr. Costis Stambolis (Executive Director, Institute of Energy for SE Europe - IENE, Athens, Greece) and Dr. Hans Hutta (General Manager, International Center for Petroleum & Industrial Management -ICM, Vienna, Austria). Important presentations were made by Mr. Janez Kopac (Director, Energy Community, Vienna, Austria ), Ms. Beate Raabe (Secretary General, Eurogas, Brussels, Belgium), Dr . Katja Yafimava (Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Oxford, UK), Dr. Andrey Konoplyanik (Advisor to the General Director , Gazprom Export / Professor, Chair "International Oil & Gas Business”, Russian State Gubkin Oil & Gas University, Russia),andDr. Yurdakul Yigitguden (Co - ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, Organization for Security and Co - operation in Europe -OSCE, Vienna, Austria) were the speakers of this opening session.
The next session, on the effect of gas pricing in the European gas industry, was co-ordinated by Dr. Hans Hutta. The speakers included Mr. Gottfried Steiner (Chief Executive Officer, Central Europe Gas Hub, Vienna, Austria, and Mr. Costis Stambolis, who between them analyzed the role of gas hubs in achieving competitive gas pricing and their contribution in strengthening energy security. The session concluded with a lively discussion on all subjects which were covered in the first two sessions of the conference.
The new gas supply sources and transit routes were the subject of the third session of the which was moderated by Dr. Dimitrios - Vasilios Kokkinos (Chairman of the Geopolitical Committee of IENE). Current and potential gas supply sources for Europe, gas supply security considerations and the gas supply outlook in SE Europe were the topics discussed in this session. Mr. Gokhan Yardim (General Manager, Angoragaz Import Export Wholesale Inc., Ankara, Turkey), Dr. Narsi Ghorban (Secretary, Environment and Energy Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce -ICC, Tehran, Iran), Ms. Anca Mihalache (Senior Analyst , Energy Policy Group -EPG, Bucharest, Romania), Ms. Eugenia Gusilov(Director, ROEC, Bucharest, Romania), Dr . Anita Orban (Former Ambassador at Large for Energy Security , Budapest, Hungary ) and Dr. Lachezar Matev (Ambassador at Large for Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Sofia, Bulgaria) were the speakers of this session.
The conference's last session emphasizedthe role of gas transmission systems, gasstorage, LNG and co-generation in European energy security. Moderated by Mr. Gokhan Yardim, this session included among its speakers Mr. Chris Walters (Managing Consultant, Gas Strategies, London, UK), Dr. Michalis Thomadakis (Member of the Board , Regulatory Authority for Energy - RAE, Athens, Greece), Mr. Vladimir Djurovic (Manager Development Division Department, Plinacro, Zagreb, Croatia) and Mr. Costas Theofylaktos (Senior Research Associate, IENE, Athens, Greece). A round table discussion with the participation of all speakers followed and the workings of the conference were closed with concluding remarks by the organizers.
The lead conference sponsor was Greece’s Public Gas Corporation (DEPA), while media partners included the Energia.gr and See News portals.
