EU must improve energy security: EC report

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union must improve the security of its energy supplies with offshore wind turbines and gas pipelines to the Caspian region, according to a European Commission report.

The 27-nation EU currently meets 54 percent of its energy needs with imports and its dependence on foreign sources has no chance of changing any time soon, according to a report the commission is to publish on Thursday.

The report, obtained by AFP, singled out the EU's dependence on foreign gas as a particular cause of concern, with 61 percent of supplies coming from outside the bloc.

Although the EU has a diverse range of gas suppliers including Russia, Norway, Algeria and other countries, some member states are particularly dependent on one supplier, as is the case with the Baltic countries and Russia.

EU countries still have not forgotten a standoff between Russia and Ukraine in the dead of winter in 2006 which saw gas supplies to some European countries briefly cut.

"Strategies to share and spread risk, and to make the best use of the combined weight of the EU in world affairs can be more effective than dispersed national actions," the report said.

"For these reasons, energy security is an issue of common EU concern," it added.

While EU leaders have repeatedly endorsed such an approach, most recently in October, on the ground member states still largely negotiate individually with foreign suppliers such as Russia's Gazprom.

In the commission's view, EU nations could improve the security of their supplies by beefing up infrastructure.

"Connecting the remaining isolated energy markets in Europe is a priority," the report said, adding that the commission would draft plans next year on how to link the Baltic countries energy infrastructure with the rest of the bloc.

Another top priority is setting up what the commission calls a southern gas corridor of pipeline networks that could bring gas from Caspian or even Middle Eastern sources while bypassing Russia.

The commission has long been a backer of the 3,300-kilometre (2,050-mile) Nabucco pipeline that is to pass through Turkey to Austria even though many experts question whether it is a good idea and supplies for the pipeline still need to be found.

The commission is to draft an action plan for liquefied national gas infrastructure, study the possibility of an offshore wind park in the North Sea and look into how to improve links between Europe and southern Mediterranean countries.

The EU's executive arm also said that both strategic and commercial oil stocks could be better managed.

On strategic stocks, it said data should be made more reliable and transparent while on commercial stocks it recommended that inventories should be published on a weekly basis in order to discourage uninformed speculation.

Meanwhile, the commission called for continued efforts to boost energy efficiency in Europe, which has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 1990s levels by 2020.

Criticized for being slow in drawing up detailed plans to meet the target, the commission said it aimed to extend the scope of existing rules on energy efficiency in buildings and various devices.