Trade and Transit Thematic Reports

List of Publications

Intergovernmental Agreements and Host Government Agreements on Oil and Gas Pipelines: A Comparison (2015): The aim of the report is to present a comprehensive overview of existing legal practices in cross-border pipeline projects in several parts of the world. To this end, the report first identifies 19 core topics of cross-border pipeline agreements. It then evaluates how these topics are incorporated in 17 different cross-border oil and gas pipeline projects as well in the Energy Charter Model Agreements on Cross-Border Pipelines and in the provisions of the draft Transit Protocol. Recommendations are made in view of a possible agreement on common principles or rules on transit and cross-border energy flows in the Energy Charter context.
Energy Transit Activities: a Collection of Intergovernmental Agreements of Oil and Gas Transit Pipelines and Commentary (2015): The report focuses on common principles and regional specificities that can be derived from selected Intergovernmental Agreements on oil and gas transit pipelines which were analysed. The report evaluates these common norms vis-à-vis the Energy Charter Model Agreements on Cross-Border Pipelines and the provisions of the draft Transit Protocol. Recommendations are made in view of a possible agreement on common principles or rules on transit and cross-border energy flows in the Energy Charter context.
International Energy Security: Common Concept for Energy Producing, Consuming and Transit Countries (2015): Energy security has been high on policy agendas from the 2000s onwards. This report introduces varied meanings of energy security among energy exporting, transit, and importing countries. It looks at the prospects of different views on energy security, in particular between exporters and importers, to evolve into a common comprehensive concept, which would be applicable to any country.
Securing Energy Flows from Central Asia to China and the Relevance of the Energy Charter Treaty to China (2015): The report analyses the current state of cooperation between China and Central Asian countries in the energy sector. Special attention is given to the benefits and relevance of the Energy Charter Treaty to China. The report is intended for use by China's policy makers defining the country's engagement in international cooperation.
Price of Electricity Transit in Transition Countries (2014): The purpose of this report was to analyse various issues related to electricity transit in selected countries of Central and South Asia, to compare existing transit tariff methodologies and to make recommendations to the respective decision making bodies of the region.
Bringing Gas to the Market: Gas Transit and Transmission Tariffs in Energy Charter Treaty Countries - Regulatory Aspects and Tariff Methodologies (2012): Tariffs for the utilisation of gas transmission pipelines are an essential factor determining the openness of international gas markets. The availability of interconnections and economically acceptable transportation costs are a condition for natural gas reaching consumer markets. With the dependence of major consuming countries on imported natural gas increasing - with the exception of countries that can rely on significant own reserves of unconventional gas - international trade in natural gas is expected to grow over the next decades.
Bringing Oil to the Market: Transport Tariffs and Underlying Methodologies for Cross-Border Crude Oil and Products Pipelines (2012): Pipelines play a significant role in the international crude oil and oil product logistics. They allow exploiting remote oil fields and are a much cheaper and more convenient means of oil and oil product transportation than railways. Pipelines are especially relevant for territories with no or limited access to the sea. Thanks to the construction of pipelines, the last two decades have seen the emergence of new suppliers on the world oil market. For the latter, secure and economical transit through third countries in order to access world markets is of critical importance.
Putting a Price on Energy: Oil Pricing Update (2011): This report is a follow-up to the Secretariat's 2007 publication "Putting a Price on Energy: International Pricing Mechanisms for Oil and Gas." It provides an update of Chapter 3 on Oil Pricing. In particular, it looks at some of the key events which shaped the world economy over the past four years and which have led to a never seen before oil price peak and subsequent collapse.
Market Trading Mechanisms for Delivering Energy Efficiency (2010): The use of market mechanisms to achieve environmental objectives is growing, with the most notable example being the use of emissions trading schemes to control greenhouse gas emissions. Trading Mechanisms for Energy Efficiency, commonly referred to as White Certificates Schemes, are now in place in a few countries. This study examines these experiences with White Certificates Schemes, identifies the key design features that affect performance, evaluates effectiveness and offers advice on how developed and transition economies might proceed with such schemes.
Russian Gas in China: Complex Issues in Cross-Border Pipeline Negotiations (2010): The Russian Far East needs a development plan, and starting exports of natural resources to the Asia-Pacific region might become such a project. There are substantial reserves both in West and East Siberia and the Far East that can serve as a resource base for Russian exports to the Asia-Pacific region. Russia is the largest gas reserves holder in the world; as much as 140 bcm/a, about 16% of its total output, will be produced in East Siberia and the Far East by 2030.
Putting a Price on Energy: International Coal Pricing (2010): The coal sector has undergone two major changes in the last decade. One change is in the global demand structure: As of 2000 coal demand from developing countries started increasing in an unprecedented way, the bulk of the increase coming from steam coal demand for power generation. Coal has provided China, India and other emerging economies with affordable and dependable electricity supply and fuelled the economic growth in these countries.
Fostering LNG Trade: Developments in LNG Trade and Pricing (2009): The goal of the worldwide trend towards liberalisation of natural gas markets has been to let "gas-to-gas" market competition set prices for the commodity. But international gas markets - and particularly LNG markets - still depart substantially from the competitive ideal, price determination is extremely complex. Pipeline and LNG investments pose special problems for the competitive commodity model.
Taxation along the Oil and Gas Supply Chain: International Pricing Mechanisms for Oil and Gas (2008): Oil and gas are taxed heavily along the supply chain in various ways and for different reasons. Tax revenues from oil and gas exports are a major source of revenue for governments of oil and gas exporting countries, these revenues serve as a compensation for the depletion of a finite resource.
Fostering LNG Trade: Role of the Energy Charter (2008): LNG, liquefied natural gas, is a technology to transport natural gas, which allows to monetise large gas fields. Since the first LNG cargo from Algeria to the UK in 1964, LNG trade has been expanding rapidly. Now liquefied natural gas has a worldwide reach and LNG imports are increasingly competing with indigenous production and natural gas transported by pipeline.
Oil Flows and Export Capacity in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea Regions (2008): The Caspian region holds substantial oil reserves, which are larger then the reserves of the North Sea or the US. However, most of these reserves are landlocked and need transit to access international markets. In addition, oil transported to the Black Sea then has to pass the increasingly congested Turkish Straits and add to the risks linked to tanker traffic through this highly frequented waterway.
Putting a Price on Energy: International Pricing Mechanisms for Oil and Gas (2007): This report describes and analyses the development of international oil and gas pricing mechanisms. It is organised in a way that each chapter can be read on its own; the factual chapters and sections on oil, gas in North America, gas in the UK, gas in Continental Europe and liquefied natural gas.
From Wellhead to Market: Oil Pipeline Tariffs and Tariff Methodologies in Selected Energy Charter Member Countries (2007): The international energy economy depends on the reliable operation of oil and gas pipeline networks; in many parts of the world, these pipelines are the arteries that bring energy supplies from wellhead to market.
Energy Efficiency and Emissions Trading (2006): 2005 was a critical year for international cooperation on climate change, witnessing the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol and the launch of the EU's emissions trading system for CO2. A new publication from the Energy Charter provides an update on developments in the EU's system, and discusses opportunities that climate change mitigation policies open up for countries across the Energy Charter constituency for investments in energy efficiency.
The Impact of CO2 Reduction Measures on Energy Trade (2006): The present report focuses on macroeconomic impacts of CO2 reduction measures and resulting changes of fuel choice and energy flows. The work benefited from the discussions in the Group on Trade and Transit as well as from comments by member states and the International Energy Agency.
Gas Transit Tariffs in Selected ECT Countries (2006): Tariffs charged for transit of natural gas differ widely across the countries of Eurasia that make up the constituency of the Energy Charter. This is a main finding of a study, released by the Energy Charter Secretariat, which analyses tariff-setting methodologies and tariff levels across the main EU and non-EU gas transit countries.
Regional Electricity Markets in the ECT Area (2003): This report analyses the present structure of national electricity markets in various parts of the Energy Charter's constituency, and assesses the present volume and growth dynamics of trade in electricity across national boundaries. Existing restrictions to trade in electricity - of a physical, legal and regulatory nature - are examined, including in the context of relevant international trade obligations applying to the Charter's member states through the WTO and the Energy Charter Treaty.
Applicable Trade Provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty (2003): This publication aims to increase the level of transparency over the exact rules that apply under the Energy Charter Treaty to trade in energy materials and products and energy related equipment among its Signatory states.
Trade in Energy: WTO Rules Applying under the Energy Charter Treaty (2002): The Secretariat produced this study as part of an effort to provide increased transparency about the application of the WTO rules on trade in goods in the energy sector. Its purpose is to help governments, firms and interested individuals to better understand how the rules of the multilateral trading system apply to trade in energy.
Energy Transit: the Multilateral Challenge (1998): During the July 1997 G8 Summit in Aspen, President Yeltsin invited the G8 to participate in an Energy Ministerial in Moscow in the spring of 1998. The G8, in preparing the agenda of the meeting, identified energy transit as a strategic issue to be discussed. The Energy Charter Secretariat was invited to prepare a background paper. This paper presents an analysis of the key issues associated with grid-bound energy transit and examines the role of governments, particularly the G8 governments, in adopting a multilateral approach to address and meet some of the challenges of energy transit in the future.

Trade and Transit Thematic Reports

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