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Third OPEC International Seminar
Third OPEC International Seminar “The role of OPEC in the New Energy Era- Challenges and Opportunities” Intervention by IRU Secretary General, Martin Marmy Vienna, Austria 13 September 2006 Your excellencies, The role of OPEC today, and in a new energy era, will remain very important due to the large proven oil reserves in OPEC countries and due to the fact that oil is not a regular, but a PREMIUM, STRATEGIC energy everywhere, even considered as BLACK GOLD in the road transport sector. As clearly demonstrated by the OPEC Acting Secretary General Mr Barkindo and by various distinguished speakers, this new energy era is facing numerous challenges. Let me express a few concerns: Firstly, it should be recognized by everyone that we are not the owners of the planet, we are only borrowing it from our children’s children. Therefore our children’s children should also have the right to benefit from the black gold, in particular in road transport, where no viable alternative to oil exists. Secondly, the very rapid and huge increase of diesel and gasoline prices at the pump- where the price due to excise duties and taxes represent already, in numerous countries, several times the current crude oil price – should be stabilized by appropriate energy policies. However, if every country has an effective fiscal policy on transport fuel, only very few oil consuming countries have a true energy policy. An appropriate energy policy in the oil consuming countries requires at least an improved energy and oil efficiency, based on the diversification of the energy used in fixed installations, including through an efficient taxation and incentives, where viable alternatives to oil exist. This should be coupled with a moderate and balanced fiscal policy where no viable alternative to oil exist, such as road transport. In the current globalization of the economy, road transport is not only a transport mode, but it is above all a vital production tool, to ensure competitiveness in the sustainable economic and trade development of each country. Thus it is clear that the continuous diesel and gasoline supply for road transport, with moderate fuel taxation, is a prerequisite to enable each country to meet the objective of the Agenda 21 and the UN millennium goals. Thirdly, the reinforcement of environmental regulations represent another global challenge. However, for the road transport industry the right to emit CO2 as foreseen by the Kyoto Protocol, is more a new profitable business, than an effective measure to reduce pollution. This is why, if CO2 taxes are really an effective tool to reduce CO2 emissions – taking into account that the oil market is a global oil market and that the CO2 emissions are a global challenge – the CO2 tax should not be collected locally, by governments of the consuming countries, but at the source of the global oil market, where each barrel of oil is produced, meaning in the oil producing countries. To conclude let us follow OPEC’s leadership and example and let us assume responsibilities following the IRU slogan “working together for a better future”. Thank you for your attention. |
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