Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-08-Speech-2-759-000"
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"en.20110308.32.2-759-000"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this agenda item addresses an issue which will certainly be an important concern of ours in the months to come: What will the gas market look like during the next few decades? The question is what role gas will play in the near future in heat generation, conversion to electricity, industry and as a fuel for transport and, therefore, in our energy timetable leading up to 2050, where it will be of huge importance.
We also need to consider how the transport routes should be developed, including pipelines, infrastructure and terminals. Other issues include investment costs and the forecasts concerning the gas price in the energy mix. The European gas market currently has a volume of around 520 billion cubic metres per year. Part of this comes from our own deposits in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, but more than 60% of our gas supplies are imported from third countries and this figure will soon reach over 80%. For this reason, new deposits, such as gas in rocks, will be a useful supplement to existing deposits and will therefore reduce our dependency on imports.
There is currently a boom in sales of tight gas and shale gas from the USA. Ten years ago, no one would have believed how quickly and how dramatically the production of gas from rocks, which is extracted using water pressure and chemical agents, would transform the market. Until a few years ago, the USA was an importer of gas. Now it is an exporter, even given its own growing demand for gas. Therefore, the gas market, which has always been a continental market, is, for the first time, on the way to becoming a global market, with gas from the USA being supplied to liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals in Europe.
I am not drawing any conclusions from this development at the moment. The issue of avoiding increasing dependency, the open market and world trade all speak out in favour of it. It is also in the interest of some Member States. However, on the other hand, it is important to make it clear that we have environmental regulations governing running water and groundwater and the extraction of raw materials from the earth. We also have legislation concerning hydrocarbon resources which aims to allow non-discriminatory access to the environment and also to protect it. In addition, there are health and safety regulations for EU citizens. All of these things have to be taken into consideration.
There is potential for research and, where appropriate, for extraction, firstly in Poland and then also in the United Kingdom and Germany. In Germany, however, there is also the issue of acceptance. It will not be possible to extract this gas without the acceptance of the people in the regions and the local residents.
The Commission is monitoring the process and is also prepared to issue expert reports. I believe that we will not have a clear idea of the proportion of our own gas from rocks on the European market for three to five years. We must follow up these developments without prejudging them. However, it has to be said that even if we make use of these deposits, they will only ever supplement existing sources of gas. This means that imports of conventional gas from third countries such as Norway, Russia and Algeria, or by sea from Qatar and other states, will definitely continue to play a central role in meeting the needs of the European gas market in the decades to come. Infrastructure such as new, secure pipelines and additional LNG terminals will remain important. I think there is the possibility for us to extract our own gas to supplement imports, but this will definitely not be able to replace imported gas."@en1
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