Mr. Chairman,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honored to participate to the 2011 Extraordinary IEF Ministerial Meeting, here in Riyadh, under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
We appreciate the leading role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the world’s oil community and its efforts to develop harmonious relations and international energy governance between producers and consumers.
We believe that now, in the increasingly complex economic and political environment we are living in, it is clear that no single country or group of countries can deal with the global energy issues on its own. Cooperation on a global scale is a necessity.
Greece supports the Charter which marks a new period of international energy cooperation. I wish to stress our political commitment for an open global energy dialogue in the framework of the IEF and for the Charter, which takes the relationship between producers, consumers and transit countries to a higher level.
In order to promote price stability, we believe that it is important to achieve greater transparency regarding demand and supply. We would therefore encourage the work of the IEF to develop mechanisms for shared analysis of future trends and continue to develop the JODI Initiative. (Joint Oil Data Initiative). Natural gas and investment are also important elements for strengthening data transparency.
In the most globalised sector, that of energy and in a world of interdependence, it is extremely significant to ensure the unhindered, smooth flow of energy. The interconnection of networks, natural gas, hydrocarbon pipelines and maritime transport, constitute the vital energy corridors. And I am also referring to shipping tankers of Greek ownership which in fact constitute the largest global hydrocarbon pipeline.
In the past decade the Greek state has been deprived its licensing authority, responsible for Hydrocarbon exploitation.
To fill this gap we prepared a draft law that establishes a new licensing authority: to promote areas, organize the tenders and follow up in a second stage exploration and production activities. Transparency and EU standards are imperative so that major investors of the sector will be attracted.
Following the International and European practice, we aim to launch the first tender within the next 18 months from now since in parallel we will reform our legal, fiscal and technical framework for licensing.
For the sake of the global energy security, we will need to put in place sound, long-range policies, so the energy industry can find and develop these resources. All new energy projects will demand new technologies, massive capital investment and greater cooperation and trade among the nations of the world.
Let me conclude by thanking our hosts, for organizing today’s meeting of the IEF. Greece stands ready to work fruitfully with its partners to contribute to greater stability and transparency of the energy markets.
Thank you very much for your attention.