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Int'l energy official expects oil price to hover around 50-70 dpb

Secretary General of the Energy Charter Secretariat Urban Rusnak
Secretary General of the Energy Charter Secretariat Urban Rusnak
BRUSSELS, April 27 (KUNA) -- Secretary General of the Energy Charter Secretariat Urban Rusnak Monday forecast that the oil price will fluctuate between 50-70 dpb for some time to come.
"I expect the situation in the oil prices will be in the corridor between 50-70 dpb for a considerable period of time," he told a news conference at the Brussels Press Club today.
The former Slovak diplomat noted that if the oil prices go up, the oil in the energy mix in Europe will be declining, if the price will go down "I don't think the renewable or gas as fuel will easily replace oil choice for the transportation sector." He said nearly all the Gulf countries, including Kuwait, are observers of the Brussels-based Energy Charter.
"Now we are trying to revitalize those relations. We are talking to them (Gulf countries), we are explaining to them what it is for. We believe one day they will recognize the need for legal order in the energy cooperation," he said.
"The perception that we have today of the Energy Charter is that it is more of consumers' club is not entirely correct. It was designed also to take into account interest of the producers," he said.
Rusnak compared the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) to a traffic code which are good for all sorts of vehicles.
"The same for energy cooperation. We very much believe that the Energy Charter is some kind of international traffic code for the international cooperation in the energy in the future. It is up to the countries to join and respect the rules of the game," he said.
"Today the Gulf countries have accommodated so much wealth that they are investing out of their countries in energy fields. They know they will benefit more by the investor protection of the ECT," he said.
"If Kuwait will be a member of the ECT then it will be protected by the ECT. The balance between the Kuwaiti investors in the ECT area and vice versa in energy sector is in favour of Kuwaiti investors in Europe than the other way round," he stated.
The energy official noted that this "has not yet been taken into account in the Gulf capitals to see the net balance to get the protection and to provide the protection in energy." The Energy Charter Treaty was signed in December 1994 and entered into legal force in April 1998.
Its fundamental aim is to strengthen the rule of law on energy issues and mitigating risks associated with energy-related investment and trade. To date, the Treaty has been signed or acceded to by fifty-two states.
Observers in the ECT include Algeria, Bahrain, China, Egypt, Iran, Korea, Kuwait, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela.
Yemen signed the energy charter on 3 November 2014.
Rusnak said the agreed text on the modernization of the international energy charter will be adopted at the ministerial conference at the Dutch city of the Hague on 20 May.
The European Energy Charter Declaration signed in 1991 in the Hague was the starting process of the Energy Charter Process. At that time it was very Eurocentric because the charter process was invented to manage the ties between East and West after the Cold War, he noted.
"The new international Energy Charter is free of any geographical connotation. So it is open to any country in the world to join the process. So we hope that the conference in the Hague will be marked by the signing of the Energy Charter by countries from all five continents," he added. (end) nk.mt