RusEnergy

13.10.2006 MosNews - On Thursday, Oct. 12, France and Germany urged Russia to ratify an international energy charter that would provide the European Union with greater security for its energy supplies. The charter, drafted in 1991 by the EU’s executive commission, aims to improve energy cooperation between the EU and Russia. Russia has signed the pact in 1994, but is yet to ratify it. The charter regulates transit and investment in the energy sector and would allow for market competition between foreign and independent companies. Ratification would end the monopoly of Russia’s state-run gas giant Gazprom. “In order to build a stable and balanced EU-Russia energy partnership, France and Germany consider that Russia should rapidly and effectively apply the contents of the energy charter,” said a joint statement issued after a Franco-German ministerial meeting here. The statement was quoted by Associated Press/ Europe has been looking to ensure the stability of its energy supplies after a crisis in which major producer Russia temporarily cut off its taps earlier this year, causing supply disruptions. The “energy partnerships” outlined by France and Germany aim to “reach a better energy security, more transparency and predictability of markets and an equal openness of investment with respect to rules of competition,” the statement said. The two countries emphasized relations with Russia, which controls 30 to 40 percent of the world’s gas reserves, and urged Moscow to sign the international Energy Charter. Answering the calls for greater security of energy supplies, Russia has said that there also exists a security of demand. Russian authorities want European consumers to sign long-term contracts with the country’s oil and gas companies, thus ensuring them from possible price and demand falls. Russia claims that security of demand would help the Russian companies to invest more in exploration and development.