Tuesday, June 13, 2006

 

Energy Charter Treaty

More details of energy insecurity from the G8 meeting at the week-end. A Russian perspective on a key safeguard, the international Energy Charter Treaty, appears in the Moscow media. The view is the treaty coverage of transit and nuclear energy must be improved before the Duma will sign. But even more fundamentally, it is claimed the existing provisions aren't being enforced - Ukraine's transit default, for example.

Kudrin [Russia's Finance Minister] said the treaty failed to take into account the effect of EU enlargement on energy transit issues, or to address nuclear energy. He then used the treaty to lash out at Ukraine, saying that Ukraine had violated the treaty by siphoning off Russian gas meant for Europe after Gazprom cut supplies to Ukraine in January.

"Ukraine, unlike Russia, has ratified the Energy Charter. However, as a transit country, it allowed the unsanctioned siphoning of gas," thereby violating the Energy Charter, Kudrin said. "I'm amazed that this hasn't been noted in the West," he said.

Update

4 July, 2006

Presidential aide Prikhodko says Energy Charter outdated

Russia has refused to ratify [the ECT] as Europe has demanded access for Central Asian states and other countries to Russian pipelines, which Moscow says will make their natural gas 50% cheaper than Russia's when it arrives in Europe.
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