On 8th and 9th September
took place in Belgrade the 7th Energy Community Oil Forum. A meeting
that see the Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic underline
the high level of dependence of the Energy Community region on a limited number
of external sources of oil supply and thus the region’s particular
vulnerability in case of potential supply disruptions. Then, the emphasized the
importance of full transposition and implementation of Directive 2009/119/EC on
maintaining minimum stocks of crude oil and petroleum products in the EnC.
Then, as in previous years, the transposition of
the Oil Stocks Directive with its 1st January 2023 deadline in the
Energy Community was a key focus of the Forum. In regard, the Serbia is
currently the most advanced CP, having adopted all the necessary primary and
secondary legislation, followed by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
which still has to finalise adoption of secondary legislation. All other
Contracting Parties are in various stages of considering the most appropriate
stockholding system.
In this regard, in his speech, Mr. Dritan Spahiu, from the Ministry
of Energy and Industry of Albania, on behalf of Presidency in Office, provide
a recent developments in the energy sector in Albania. In specific, it was brought that from the last July 2015, Albanian
government has pass the law for the gas sector that is expect to be approved by
the parliament (as made in 30th April for the Electricity sector) in
the next two months. Then, it will start immediately the work for drafting the
secondary legislation of these two laws, in order to fully transpose the third
energy package.
Regarding the infrastructure projects, on July 3rd
TAP started officially the construction of the first phase of the project in
Albania, while all countries of IAP project have committed to implement this
project. Meanwhile, in the petroleum sector, in Albania there are very
important developments in licensing new oil blocks. In specific, Shell &
Petromanas and Navitas (part of Delek Group) have been awarded the exploration
blocks 4 and Dumre respectively and it is expect soon the sign of petroleum
agreements.
The deadline for the other 3 blocks is 15 October
and is expect a high interest from serious international companies, increasing
the production potential of the country. Last
year production was about 1.4 million tons with positive trend over the next
years. Albania have already started the revision of the current legal framework
in the upstream sector and very soon the country will have a modern legal and
fiscal package for the business community.
Related to emergency stock matter, Albania has focused its efforts on
exploring the various possibilities of how the present emergency stockholding
structure could be changed to be an effective system in line with the Oil
Stocks Directive 2009/119/EC. The aim is to establish Albania’s new emergency
stockholding system, which will meet the objectives of the Directive, both in
terms of its own security of oil supply and taking serious step towards EU
membership and meeting the 2023 deadline agreed by Energy Community. A draft
law has been prepared and Albania is committed to taking a final decision in
the very near future.
The country is also evaluating the current structure of the oi market,
due to domestic crude oil production, import and export report in order to
define a tailor made model for Albania. In regard, the Forum also focused on
improving oil statistics in the Energy Community. Following the Secretariat’s
efforts, Ukraine, Moldova and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia now
participate in the Joint Organisation Data Initiative (JODI) by submitting
their monthly oil (and gas) data for publication in the JODI database.
In regard, the Montenegro and Serbia are expected to begin participating
in the JODI very soon, with the remaining three Contracting Parties (Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo) to be ready by the end of 2015. In this
direction, Representatives of IEA and Eurostat at the Forum supported the CPs’
participation in the JODI as a first step towards fulfilling the monthly
reporting requirement under the Oil Stocks Directive.
Note: The here
communication came within the framework of preparation of the analytic report,
about Albania’s and the WBs Oil and Gas Sector Developments, to be release in
the shortly upcoming period by ACERC. In cases of interest to the directly
cooperation as author with analyses or for any kind of involvement or support
as well as a partner, contact us at the info@albaniaenergy.org. For more keep
update with the EU & WBs / Albania Energy
Investments Updates and visit the Official Page of ACERC.