EuroGas president Jean-Francois Cirelli told the 25th World Gas Conference in Kuala Lumpur that gas would play a part in the region’s long-term plans.
“In the long term, and despite short-term difficulties, gas will play in Europe and ever-important role,” he said.
“The European gas industry today represents more than 25 per cent of primary energy consumption with more than 160 million customers and almost 300,000 employees in the sector.”
However, Cirelli’s comments failed to show delegates that Europe was any closer to solving its energy problems than it was a decade ago when it placed its faith in coal and nuclear power.
A non-binding resolution adopted by the European Parliament in March called on the EU to “harness its energy, transport and agriculture policies to cut carbon dioxide emissions – and improve its Emissions Trading System – to make the economy more competitive and dramatically less dependent on fossil fuels by 2050”.
Parliament broadly supports the European Commission's "Roadmap for moving to a low-carbon economy", which sets a policy framework for the European Union to achieve an 80-95% reduction in its CO2 emissions by 2050. The Roadmap sets out “milestones” to reduce CO2 by at least 40% by 2030, 60% by 2040 and 80% by 2050.
Following their previous calls to increase the EU's 20% emissions reduction target for 2020, this resolution warns that the current short-term goal is “not on a cost-efficient pathway” to deeper cuts that must be made in light of climate change.
RasGas managing director Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi had criticised Europe for using “dirty coal” in an address to the conference on Wednesday.
“Despite the recent support for gas from European policy makers, one issue has becoming increasingly evident, gas is being pushed out of the generation mix in favour of coal,” he said.
“If Europe really wants to walk the walk and deliver a sustainable and efficient low carbon system, policy makers must be sure that companies are sufficiently incentivised to use low carbon forms of electricity generation.
“Coal is a dirty fuel which should be consigned to Europe’s past.”
Al Mohannadi said that a shift away from nuclear power, combined with a reduction in subsidies for renewables, will mean that natural gas could play a key role in electricity generation.
With coal and European carbon emission permit prices slumping in recent months, gas prices have increased, making it the most expensive fuel for power generation, while coal prices have dropped as US producers start exporting and China curbs its imports.
RasGas is a LNG producer in Qatar and the second biggest LNG producer in the world after Qatargas.
Eurogas is a non-profit organisation governed by Belgian law composed of 50 members from 27 countries including 33 natural gas companies, 15 federations of natural gas companies, and two international organisations.
