The natural gas industry and their allies spent over 鈧�100 million in lobbying activities in Brussels last year, according to a new report published by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) this week.
The lobbyists of the gas sector contacted with over a thousand representatives and arranged hundreds of meetings with high-ranking EU decision makers, finds the Great Gas Lock-in report by Brussels based non governmental organization.
鈥淲e found that the gas industry lobby is a force to be reckoned with in Brussels that鈥檚 very successful in steering EU energy policy on its own interest,鈥� said Pascoe Sabido, a climate policy researcher with the CEO and one of the authors of the report.
As a result of this money flow, European Commission and member governments are embarking on a massive new gas infrastructure building program, which locks the fossil fuel use within the EU for the next 50 years, told Sabido.
He said that the lobby has been influential throughout the entire policymaking processes, as a result of very close relationships with high-ranking EU officials.
Gas industry has multiple actors from different sectors, reminded Sabido and added that policy makers are meeting with all these actors who dictates the necessity of cheap gas and more pipelines through out European continent.
鈥淵ou expect to get something back [after all the lobby spendings] and from the industry鈥檚 perspective they are definitely getting back.鈥� said Sabido, reminding that EU has already spent 鈧� 1 billion on gas infrastructure projects and set apart 鈧�5 billion for various energy projects.
What EU doing is committing the resources and extending the use of gas for 40-50 years to come by creating an energy model that has gas in its heart, he asserted.
According to the report, the biggest gas industry spender is CEFIC, the European Chemical Industry Council with a budget of over 鈧�12m and 82 lobbyists, making it one of the most powerful voices in Brussels.
General Electric is the second in list by spending 鈧�6.5m. The US based firm provides services in the gas supply chain.
Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Statoil along with BusinessEurope, German Association for Energy and Water Management (BDEW), German Chamber of Commerce (DIHK) and ENEL are other large lobbying groups for gas industry.
According to the European Commission, the EU imports 53% of all the energy it consumes, at a cost of more than 鈧�1 billion per day. Energy also makes up more than 20% of total EU imports.
Specifically, the EU imports 90% of its crude oil, 66% of its natural gas, 42% of its coal and other solid fuels, and 40% of its uranium and other nuclear fuels.
By Ata Ufuk Seker
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr