|
OECD countries face growing dependence on imported oil
and gas
 |
| Demand for imported
oil and gas is rising |
Helsinki,
30 June 2003
- The industrial world's growing dependence on imported oil and natural
gas makes suppl
y security the main energy challenge for the OECD countries
in the 21st century, a business conference here was told.
Business will have
to cope with risks associated with energy supply restrictions, rising
energy prices and increasing uncertainty, Swedish energy expert Professor
Tor Ragnar Gerholm said.
Uncertainty about
energy prices will present an even greater risk for business than the
price increases themselves, he added.
Speaking at a conference
called by ICC Finland - the Finnish national committee of the International
Chamber of Commerce - and Energiafoorumi, Professor Gerholm said the dependence
of OECD-Europe on imported oil would increase from 50% to 85%, that of
OECD countries in the Far East to 100%, and that of the United States
to 66% by 2020.
Professor Gerholm
predicted that by 2020 dependence of European OECD countries on imported
natural gas would grow from the current 30% to 70%.
He was presenting
an ICC report "Business Perspectives on Energy. The Challenge of
the 21st century", of which he was the main author. Recalling that
several European countries intended to abandon use of nuclear power, he
said that hard coal and nuclear energy were the only real alternatives
to oil and gas.
Juhani Santaholma,
President of the Finnish Energy Industries Federation, who headed the
team that drew up the ICC report, said one of its main messages was that
all current forms of energy are needed. They must remain viable options
throughout the 21st century.
He said any shift
from current energy systems to new systems would take decades. This was,
for example true of wind power, even though this energy source enjoyed
extensive political and economic backing.
Mr Santaholma said
industrialized countries must develop new advanced utilization technologies
for coal to prevent acidification and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
ICC's
Energy pages
|