IEA Ministers Back Gas, Carbon Capture, Birol

Ministers and top officials from the International Energy Agency's 29 member countries met in Paris this week for their two-day IEA 2017 Ministerial Meeting on the topic: Bolstering energy security for sustainable energy growth.

More than 30 CEOs from energy firms* plus officials from the IEA's seven 'association countries' (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Singapore and Thailand) also attended.

In the concluding document on November 8, meeting chairman Sweden's energy minister Ibrahim Baylan noted that: "Observations were made that natural gas has a growing role in the world’s energy mix and is important for maintaining electricity security and flexibility as well as for improving air quality. At the same time, it was noted that the rise of LNG is globalising natural gas markets. To this end, ministers welcomed the progress in the gas security work since the last Ministerial meeting and asked the Secretariat to further contribute to enhancing global gas security by improving transparency, encouraging more flexibility, and supporting greater resilience in the global gas/LNG markets."

The IEA said it also hosted a high-level summit on Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), co-chaired by US energy secretary Rick Perry and the IEA executive director Fatih Birol, bringing together energy ministers, government officials and CEOs of major energy firms to "support a renewed push for investment in CCUS, a critical technology to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and meet global climate targets."

There was no mention of reducing or withholding funds for the IEA in the chairman's summary. Instead it said that ministers’ discussions "focused on the ongoing success of the IEA in adapting to the significant changes to the global energy landscape in the decades since its establishment, and the need to support and position the IEA with a continued ability to effectively achieve its objectives in light of the dynamic evolution of global energy markets." They also welcomed Birol's willingness to serve a second mandate as IEA executive director, and "encouraged a decision on his re-election to be taken as soon as practically possible after the Ministerial." Birol has headed the IEA since September 2015, having previously been its chief economist for a number of years.

Mark Smedley

* BP, Chevron, CHNC, Dow Chemical, Enagas, ENAP (Chile), Enel, Engie, Eni, ExxonMobil, Fortum, GE Power, Glencore, Hess, Hitachi, Iberdrola, Mitsubishi Corp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Morgan Stanley, PGNiG, Repsol, RES Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Siemens, South Korea's SK, Statoil, Suncor Energy, Toshiba, Total, Vattenfall, WindEurope