The LNG seminar was opened by Deputy Permanent Representative of Hungary to EU. Amb. Tibor Stelbaczky and the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU, Amb. Jakub Dürr, who highlighted the importance of energy security and LNG for the Danube region. A keynote speech was delivered by Ms. Andrea Kádar Deputy State Secretary for Energy and a kick off presentation was delivered on the topic of LNG from the European Commission’s perspective by Deputy Director-General of European Commission’s DG Energy, Christopher Jones.
The European Commission published its LNG and gas storage strategy in February which represents an important milestone in the realization of the Energy Union, with the main conclusion that the new LNG sources will contribute to the diversification and flexibility of gas supply and will enforce energy security. Central and South-Eastern Europe is heavily dependent on a single supplier and is vulnerable to supply interruptions, that is why the EU Strategy sets the objective to enable each Member State to have direct or indirect access to LNG resources. In this context the Seminar “LNG – Dream or Reality for the Danube Region?” intended to discuss, how the Danube Region could participate in the global gas market by gaining access to the LNG sources and how the Region could make the optimal use of the emerging LNG sources.
Nearly a hundred participants, stakeholders, energy companies and energy experts discussed and agreed that LNG represents a huge potential for the Danube Region countries to strengthen security of supply and enhance competition in the gas market, but in order to exploit this potential closer regional cooperation, optimal use of existing cross-border infrastructure and swift development of missing interconnections is a prerequisite.
There were also presentations in the stakeholder sessions about the following topics: ‘EU LNG strategy – does one size fit all’ ‘What role can the Danube Region play in the LNG revolution’ and ‘LNG as an alternative fuel. The presentations of the Seminar will be available here.
