ENERGY RESOURCES IN THE ECO REGION

ECO Secretariat Background Paper

8th Consultative Meeting of 

Executive Heads of Sub-Regional Organizations

I. First ECO Ministerial Meeting on Energy/Petroleum:

 

    1.     This meeting convened in Islamabad (November, 2000) was an important step for institutionalizing and enhancing ECO energy cooperation.

 

    2.     The member states adopted the Plan of Action for Energy/petroleum Cooperation for the period of 2001-2005 and Joint Statement on Cooperation in Energy/Petroleum in ECO region.  Highlights of the Plan of Action which are being executed are as follows:

 

II. Interconnection of ECO Countries Power Systems:

 

   3.     The objective of the project is to study the feasibility  of interconnecting existing power networks of the ECO countries.  A group of consultants from member states will prepare a feasibility study of this integrated power project.  To date ECO is in the stage of selecting the most suitable consultant(s) to sign the relevant Agreement with them.  The expenses of this feasibility study will be borne by Islamic Development Bank as a Grant to ECO.

 

III. Power Trading:

 

   4.     Considering that ECO Power Trade Strategy may be an important step for development of Regional Energy Trade Workshop on Power Trading Strategy was held on April 24-25, 2002 in Tehran at the ECO Secretariat.  Power trading issues are part of the project  of interconnection of ECO countries power systems and instrument for enhancing cooperation between the member states in the field of energy.

 

IV. Energy Efficiency & Conservation:

 

   5.     One of the important issues that ECO countries are much concerned about it is the subject of energy efficiency and conservation.  The matter has been under constant consideration and due attention has been paid to it in most member states.  The first Workshop on Energy Efficiency and Conservation was held with the initiative of Republic of Turkey in Ankara on December 5-6, 2001.  The outcome of the Workshop is quite satisfactory and a Plan of Action on the subject of conservation and efficiency for member states was agreed upon (a copy is enclosed as ready reference-Annex-A).

 

V. Cooperation in the field of Petroleum Refineries and Products:

 

   6.     Some of the ECO Member States are very experienced in the file of Hydrocarbon Industries.  For instance I.R. of Iran has about 100 years of experience in this respect.  Another Member State with vast experience is Republic of Azerbaijan.  Some members have very rich hydrocarbon resources and need assistance to process their resources or bring the products to international matters.  In two different workshops held subsequently in 1999 and 2002, ECO member states’ experts exchanged their views about all the discipline of hydrocarbon industries both in upstream and downstream decisions have been made to de-bottleneck some parts of the industry by using resources and expertise of other member states, transfer of Iranian Natural Gas to Turkey, snapping of Kazakhstan Crude with Iranian Crude, exporting of Turkmenistan Natural Gas to Iran and other bi and multi-lateral cooperation between the ECO member states may be mentioned here.

 

VI. Preparation of Terms of Reference for a Feasibility Study on ECO Pipeline Routes:

 

   7.     As you may see from Tables 4 & 5 as well as Fig. 1 & 2, there are many options for transporting hydrocarbon resources of Caspian Sea region to the outside world.  Some of these routes are existing and some are under construction or planning stage.  The ECO decision making bodies have decided to carry out a project which may result in determining an appropriate route which could while serving as to supply energy deficient member states of ECO, at the same time provide the necessary means for transferring hydrocarbon resources and their products to the international markets.   The terms of reference for such a study has already been prepared by the ECO Secretariat and we are trying to find appropriate financing sources to help ECO to arrange for carrying out the necessary feasibility study.

 

VII. Data Collection:

 

   8.     ECO Member States have been asked to send detailed data on their energy resources to the Secretariat.  Secretariat has received some information in this regard and published it in a booklet called “Energy Data Booklet of ECO Member countries”

 

   9.     Secretariat seeks to standardize the figures provided by member states while at the same time to update and complete the information received through using the international published figures (i.e. IEA, EIA, etc. )

 

VIII. Energy and Environment:

 

  10.    Energy matters are closely interlinked with the Environment.  There are a number of areas where the effect on the Environment is visible.

 

  11.    The first ECO Ministerial Meeting on Environment held Tehran during 13-15 December 2002.  This meeting was a big success for ECO and resulted between other things in adopting a detailed work programme and plan of action for ECO Member States (a copy of the adopted Plan of Action is enclosed for ready reference - Annex-B).

 

IX. Human Resources Development:

 

  12.    To develop an interactive network for sharing information technology and experience between the ECO Member States in energy sector  and their human resources development, training workshops, events, meetings are usually being organized and convened by the ECO Secretariat in collaboration with the relevant authorities in the host member states.

 

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