Iran-Iraq May Provide Opportunities to Global Environment, WEC Says
The World Energy Council, founded in 1923, currently has members from 100 countries and is a UN-accredited body of the global energy environment.
The Council's flagship event, the 23rd World Energy Congress, will take place in Istanbul, Turkey in 2016 under the theme: "Embracing New Frontiers." Ms Marie-Jose Nadeau, a Canadian energy veteran, has held the position of chair of the World Energy Council since 2012.
At the sidelines of the recent World Forum on Energy Regulation in Istanbul, Natural Gas Europe had a chance to speak with Ms Nadeau on various issues impacting the entire energy sphere.
What are your expectations on oil, gas prices?
We are not making or publishing any oil price estimations for the future. As an executive in the energy business, I talked with many CEO’s in the energy sector. And they agree on one thing for the slump in oil prices: overproduction of Saudi Arabia - the biggest oil exporting country - and over storage of oil resulted this situation. Both Saudi Arabia and Russia had raised their oil production but the storage capacity came to an end. And also the world economy did not recover enough to generate new oil-gas demand.
What are the challenges ahead for energy and geopolitics?
Geopolitics and energy are old companions. Geopolitics is short-term based, energy is long-term based. Energy creates platforms to talk partner countries. Energy serves as a platform to be based on talks and dialogue. Wherever you look, geopolitical problems are everywhere, but in any case energy flows continue.
Last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey resulted a new energy pipeline project, Turkish Stream, as Russia shelved the South Stream Pipeline Project, which will ship Russian gas to European markets. Are you expecting any surprise developments in Iraq and Iran, regarding natural gas resources, pipelines?
Turkey has the ambition to become an energy hub, which is a very legitimate action. Turkey can build new relations with Russia to increase its energy supply security. The context of Iraq is quite different. We may need to see good governance and control risks, security in this region. In Iran, if the nuclear closed successfully, this may result a good opportunity. There’s no deal yet, the devil is the details as you know.
Energy security needs a holistic approach. It’s not enough for us to look exclusively oil and gas supplies. The United States plans to work with Turkey in different 3 energy projects. The energy efficiency, market reforms, renewable energy.
IRAN MAY GET A DEAL
Meanwhile, Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China reached a tentative framework for a nuclear deal on April 2 but several issues remain unresolved. They have a self-imposed June 30 deadline to arrive at a comprehensive agreement.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that he was hopeful Iran and world powers would reach a final conclusion on a nuclear deal "within a reasonable period of time". "If the other side respects what has been agreed in Lausanne and tries to draft based on mutual respect a comprehensive agreement with Iran that is sustainable... then we can meet any deadline. If people insist on excessive demands, on renegotiation, then it will be difficult. I am hopeful we will reach a final conclusion within a reasonable period of time," Zarif said after meeting his Greek counterpart. "
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