GAS CONFLICT PROMPTS EU TO DOUBT SYSTEM OF STOCKPILING OIL

So this is what energy security looks like. Fifteen enormous stark white oil tanks standing in contrast to the grey atmosphere of the Rotterdam port. Here is where EU countries keep a part of their ‘strategic oil supply,’ the energy needed to survive for three months if something goes amiss elsewhere in the world.

The colossal white cylinders are located on the windy premises of storage company Vopak. Just a little further along is Shell’s oil refinery, which stretches for miles. Various European countries store supplies here for emergencies. Over the past decades the oil companies and tank storage companies in Rotterdam have started to play a bigger role in this strategic oil stockpiling by European countries. More and more countries parked a part of their reserves in the Netherlands. This resulted in cost savings for these nations, and a source of income for the companies at the Rotterdam harbour.

Brussels wants to change that. Countries should keep their strategic reserves closer to home, preferably within their own borders. That is necessary for energy security, says the European Commission. But it will cost the Netherlands at least 100 million Euros, the ministry of economic affairs wrote in alarm to parliament, which debated about the Commission’s plan last week. read more (nrc.nl)

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February 16, 2009