EU Lawmakers Set Energy Efficiency, Renewables Targets
European Union lawmakers on Tuesday targeted energy savings of 32.5 percent and a renewable energy uplift of 32 percent by 2030, in a push to meet the bloc's pledge under the Paris climate accord to curb global warming.National governments now have until the end of the year to draft their own plans for implementing the bloc's overall climate goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement.However, the new clean energy targets voted on in the European Parliament on Tuesday put the EU on track to reduce emissions by about 45 percent by 2030…
Ukraine to Offer Gazprom Discounted Transit Fees
Ukraine will offer Gazprom discounted fees for natural gas transit to ensure a flow from Russia to Europe after 2020, European Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said on Friday.Russia's Gazprom and five European companies, with German backing, plan to build the North Stream 2 gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed to connect Russia directly with Germany, bypassing eastern Europe and limiting the flows via Ukraine.The pipeline will double Russia's gas export capacity to Germany but threatens to cost Ukraine valuable revenues, while increasing European Union reliance on Russian gas."Ukraine is saying they want to maintain
Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Must Balance Interests - German Minister
Germany's aim with respect to the planned new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia is to enable private infrastructure projects while protecting the justified interests of Ukraine, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said. He was speaking at a joint news conference with European Energy Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who said he welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's commitment to ensuring that Ukraine continues to benefit from gas transit fees. The pipeline, planned by a consortium led by Russian energy giant Gazprom…
Russia Ready to Consider Gas Supplies via Ukraine After 2020
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic that Russia was ready to consider using Ukraine as a gas transit route after 2020, the energy ministry said on Wednesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that a gas pipeline planned to run from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea could not go ahead without clarity on Ukraine's role as a transit route for gas, appearing to harden her stance on the scheme. The Russian energy ministry said in a statement that Novak and Sefcovic had spoken by telephone and discussed the delivery of Russian gas to European markets.
EU Nations Back Plan for Talks with Russia Over Pipeline
Thirteen EU nations voiced support on Monday for a proposal to empower the bloc's executive to negotiate with Russia over objections to a new Russian gas pipeline to Germany, despite opposition from Berlin. At an informal debate among EU energy ministers, Germany's partners in the 28-nation bloc spoke out against Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline plan to pump more gas directly from Russia's Baltic coast to Germany. EU nations are expected to vote in the autumn on the European Commission's request for a mandate to negotiate with Russia on behalf of the bloc as a whole.
EU Seeks Mandate for Talks with Russia Over Nord Stream 2
The European Union's executive on Friday asked 28 governments in the bloc to give it the authority to negotiate with Russia to ensure its laws are respected in building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a project that has divided EU states. Poland, the Baltic states and others say Nord Stream 2 would increase EU dependence on Russia's Gazprom, which already supplies about a third of the bloc's gas. Backers such as Germany say it will offer the EU cheaper supplies. The bloc wants to diversify EU gas supplies and the Commission has said the pipeline could let "a single supplier" - Russia - strengthen its position in the EU market.
EU Hopes Closer to Talks with Russia on Nord Stream Pipeline
A top European Commission official said on Friday European Union members would be asked within days to give the bloc's executive a mandate to negotiate with Russia over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has bitterly divided the bloc. The planned 9.5 billion euro ($10.6 billion) pipeline project has led to a split between Eastern European and Baltic Sea states who fear it will increase their dependence on Russian gas and undermine Ukraine's role from Germany and other beneficiaries in northern Europe who back the plan.
Gazprom eyes Rival TAP Pipeline
TAP aims to reduce EU dependence on Russian gas, but Gazprom could gain access via open auction. Gazprom's bid to tap into a pipeline meant to wean Europe off Russian gas threatens to undermine a pillar of European energy policy and slow plans to develop rival deposits in the east Mediterranean. As the European Union struggles against the "iron embrace" of Russian pipelines, it has made opening a new Southern Gas Corridor to carry gas from Azerbaijan by 2020 a priority. The 10 billion cubic metre (bcm)-capacity Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is the project's end piece…
EU National Climate Goals Test Bloc's Resolve Amid Brexit
EU regulators doled out bitterly disputed national emissions-reduction targets on Wednesday for spreading the burden of the bloc's climate goals by 2030, despite risks Britain's exit could unravel the effort to fight global warming. As the first major piece of legislation since Britons voted in June to leave, it is a test of the union's cohesion, as it seeks to keep to a pact agreed in Paris last year aimed at holding global warming "well below" 2 degrees Celsius. It assigns EU nations targets for slashing greenhouse…
Azerbaijan Expects to Secure TAP Gas Pipeline Finance in April
Azerbaijan expects to secure in April full financing for the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP), seen as an alternative for Russian gas supplies to Europe, Azeri Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said on Monday. The Southern Gas Corridor project, of which TAP is a part, is expected to cost around $45 billion. "The talks are under way. The issues of TAP financing will be completely solved on April 28," Aliyev told reporters, declining to say why that exact date was chosen. TAP's shareholders are BP, Azeri state company SOCAR, Snam, Fluxys, Enagas and Axpo .
Enel CEO - Endesa to Remain Cash Cow Until EU Reforms Power Market
Endesa, the Spanish arm of Italian utility Enel, will keep paying out all of its earnings as dividends for now, and Enel will only decide on its future plans for the business when Europe has completed its power market reforms, Enel's CEO said. Endesa paid out 100 percent of its earnings to shareholders this year and said last month it plans on a dividend payout of 100 percent of net profit in the 2015-2019 period. That left some investors wondering how Endesa will finance growth, although its management has said that gearing is not a problem at the moment and that the company could easily borrow for expansion.
EU: Ukraine Avoiding Winter Gas Supply Disruptions
Ukraine should be able to avoid severe gas disruptions this winter despite prolonged talks with Russia over a supply deal that has delayed the filling of storage tanks, the European Union's energy chief said on Monday. Tensions between Russia, Europe's biggest gas supplier, and Ukraine, the main transit route to the EU, have been high since Moscow's seizure of Crimea in March 2014. Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed Ukraine's gas storage tanks were a little more than 53 percent full, up from about 46 percent around the same time a year ago.
EU Regulators Look to LNG and Away from Russian Pipelines
European Union regulators are preparing a strategy to import more liquefied natural gas (LNG) while scrutinising Russia's plans to expand its pipeline capacity to Germany, a draft EU document says. The document is part of the European Commission's efforts to enforce a single energy market, based on regional cooperation and diverse sources of energy shared across the 28-member bloc. In a progress report later this month, Maros Sefcovic, European Commission vice president responsible for energy union, will deliver "a state of the union address".
European Commission, Russia, Ukraine in Gas Supply Deal
The European Commission, Russia and Ukraine initialled a deal to ensure gas supplies for Kiev until March next year, but did not sign it. The initialling followed around five hours of talks in Brussels between Maros Sefcovic, European vice president responsible for energy, and the Ukraine and Russian energy ministers. Sefcovic said it would require "separate procedures" to sign the deal. (Reporting by Barbara Lewis)
Extending Nord Stream Must Comply with EU Laws
A deal between Russia's Gazprom and its European partners to expand the Nord Stream gas pipeline would have to comply with EU rules, the European Commission's vice president said on Tuesday. Gazprom and its partners signed a shareholders' agreement on the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project in September that will bypass Ukraine and run beneath the Baltic Sea to Europe, bringing Europe closer into Moscow's energy orbit. The United States criticised the announcement, while the prime minister of Slovakia called the deal a "betrayal" that would cost his country and Ukraine billions of euros in lost transit fees.
European Commission Eyes Gas deal with Russia, Ukraine
Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission can reach a deal on gas supplies to Ukraine and via that country to Europe by end September if all sides show goodwill to resolve outstanding issues, the Commission's vice president said on Tuesday. Maros Sefcovic said he hoped that a final round of talks would take place before the end of the month, adding that a deal would send a reassuring signal that Europe will receive stable gas supplies this winter. "I can promise you that I will do my utmost to make sure that we will try to do everything to make the next winter more or less the same as we have the last one…
European Commission, Russia Had Constructive Gas Talks
The European Commission said it had "constructive" talks about gas transfers via Ukraine with Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Gazprom's Chief Executive Alexei Miller on Friday. "The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere and focused on the actions needed to ensure stable gas supplies to Ukraine and via Ukraine to the EU during winter," the Commission said after the meeting in Vienna. "Today's meeting created a solid basis for convening a trilateral meeting with Russia and Ukraine and to finalise a new package in the near future…
European States Agree to Boost Gas Links, Reduce Reliance on Russia
Fifteen countries from central, eastern and southeast Europe signed a deal on Friday to speed up the building of gas links, improve security of supply, reduce their reliance on Russia and develop a fully integrated energy market. "The improvement of infrastructure through realistic and feasible projects is crucial to diversify energy resources and strengthen the region's resilience to supply shocks," European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said in a statement. The document was signed on the sidelines of a conference in Croatia's coastal city of Dubrovnik, attended by Sefcovic.
EU to Get Energy Enforcement Powers
European Commission to publish legal proposals next year; outline communication due next week. EU energy regulator ACER, until now largely toothless, will be given legal powers to enforce plans for a single energy market that breaks down national barriers under a proposal from the bloc's executive arm. At a conference on Thursday in Slovenia, where the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators is based, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete laid out their plans to bolster ACER.
Ukraine Winter Gas Cost to Reach $1.5 bln
The planned new gas package for Ukraine for winter will cost around 1.5 billion dollars according to German minutes from a meeting of the Council of the European Union. "The amount of gas currently stored in Ukraine is not sufficient to ensure supply for next winter," German minutes seen by Reuters reported European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic as saying in comments on June 8. Reporting by Markus Wacket
