Europe's Gas Coordination Group Prepares for Potential Natural Gas Supply Disruptions
July 3, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
Europe's Gas Coordination Group (GCG) met on July 2 to analyze the progress made by the member states of the European Union (EU) and the Energy Community (EnCT) to increase their level of preparedness for a potential disruption of supplies in the natural gas market.
The European Commission (EC), which chairs the GCG, stressed the need to fill storage units and seek further regional arrangements before any possible new disruption occurs.
During the meeting, the EC, together with representatives from EU member states, regulators and the gas industry, examined the current level of preparedness by the EU and EnCT to face a possible gas supply disruption in the near term.
The January 2009 natural gas crisis highlighted the vulnerability of the EU to supply disruptions, underlining the fact that a number of EU member states are overwhelmingly dependent on one single supplier and one single supply route.
In light of the uncertain gas storage situation in Ukraine, the EC, in particular, recommended that EU member states be better prepared for the coming winter period and to fill their gas storage units from all possible available sources.
The GCG identified risks affecting the gas supplies of the various member states and of the EnCT countries, as well as explored opportunities to implement emergency measures in a coordinated manner. The GCG stressed the potential of regional cooperation to mitigate the risks identified.
A specific exercise of running supply disruption scenarios was also performed to examine what could be the best possible responses at both the European Community and regional level.
Background
The Gas Coordination Group was created in 2006 according to Directive 2004/67, which contains measures that safeguard the security of natural gas supplies. Chaired by the EC, it is composed of gas-competent representatives of EU member states, European organizations in the gas sector and consumers.
The group meets regularly (at least four times per year) to exchange information and develop both short-term and long-term concrete measures that reinforce the security of gas supply to the EU. It is now meeting each month, given the uncertainty surrounding some external supply routes.
Directive 2004/67 sets out a three-step approach in case of a natural gas supply crisis:
- Industry takes the necessary measures.
- If these are not adequate to mitigate the crisis, national measures are activated.
- If these are still not adequate and if the crisis reaches the major supply disruption indicator (20% of all imports are missing), the European Community mechanism is activated: the Gas Coordination Group is convened to discuss what further steps can be taken and to assist the member states in difficulty. The group can then propose further measures to the European Council.
The EC, in its communication adopted on Nov. 13, 2008, together with the Strategic Energy Review, proposed a revision of the directive to strengthen the measures for more effective action in case of a natural gas crisis.
The January 2009 crisis showed that a more coordinated approach is needed on the European level to provide stable and secure energy supply to European citizens.
Therefore, the EC suggested the elaboration of emergency plans to be activated automatically in case a supply disruption of a certain magnitude occurs. A joint approach of these emergency plans is of great importance to ensure mutually supportive measures.
In the coming weeks, the EC will table a new instrument proposing new measures on the security of natural gas supplies to be adopted by the European Council and the European Parliament.
Source: European Commission (EC).