World's Energy

04-21-2009 - Upstream OnLine - European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said today he was convinced that Russia and Ukraine will work towards avoiding any future gas supply disruptions to Europe. "If there is another crisis, their credibility will be ruined. I think it is important for them that it (the transit system) functions in future," Piebalgs told Reuters at the Hanover industry fair. Europe was shocked by delivery shortfalls in January after a bilateral row over transit and pay. Their biggest customer, the EU, has been urging the two countries to bridge differences to ensure the bloc safeguards its energy security. Piebalgs was in Hanover to promote the focus on energy efficiency placed in Germany at its industrial showcase event, where technologies to cut raw materials use, avoid environmental burdens and raise efficiencies are on display. Turning to carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies for the coal-to-power generating industries which Brussels has agreed to help fund in its pre-market stages, Piebalgs said that he was only ready to propagate public funding until the technology was mature enough to be economically feasible. "We are in a transition phase, we must close a gap until the technology is mature," he said.