2023-11-25 04:10:13
Emergency plan with rationing measures and priority consumers: the De Croo government wants to better prepare the response to a potential oil crisis.
We knew that the De Croo government had decided, on July 23, to modernizer Apetra, the agency responsible for strategic stocks of petroleum products in order to ensure the country’s security of supply. Apetra will be renamed Aseva (Energy Storage Agency), and its role might be expanded to other products. This will be the subject of an in-depth study by the Directorate General (DG) Energy of the FPS Economy, but we are talking regardinghydrogend‘ammonia and perhaps e-fuels, lithium or rare metals crucial for batteries.
But the bill which makes this decision a reality, signed by Ministers Dermagne, Van Peteghem and Van der Straeten, and included on the agenda of the House Energy Committee next Tuesday, also provides for better prepare the response to a potential oil crisis.
A list of priority clients
First he will rgrouped into a single piece of legislation the provisions relating to crisis policy. And above all, he will give the DG Energy a mission toestablish an emergency plan in the event of an oil supply crisis, a plan which must provide for what demand restriction measures can be taken. The text also instructs DG Energy to establish a list of priority consumers. This plan and this list will then be the subject of a ministerial decree.
“These priority consumers will include emergency services, such as the police or ambulances, but also the agri-food sector.”
“We will of course find among these priority consumers the emergency serviceslike the police or ambulances, but also the agribusiness. But a consultation must still be organized to translate the principles of the legal text into an operational plan,” indicates the office of Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen).
The text provides that it is to the minister that it comes down to determining whether we are in situation of energy crisis or oil supply crisis. This then allows various measures to be taken very quickly, such as the release of strategic stocks.
The FPS Economy website explains that by oil crisis we mean a situation in which thesupply of crude oil and/or petroleum products is severely disruptedwhich leads to considerable problems in distribution to end users. Among the possible triggers of such a crisis, he points to geopolitical reasons such as a war in a producing region or the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a natural disaster or one attack on key production facilities, but also specific national or local situations, such as social unrest or an accident in a refinery.
90 days of stock
Member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and member states of the European Union are required to hold strategic stocks of oil and petroleum products corresponding to 90 days of net imports, to be able to resort to them in the event of a crisis. The bill provides that it is then the National Petroleum Officecreated in 2018 and which brings together representatives of the Minister of Energy, the FPS Economy and Apetra, who will ensure the execution of the emergency plan and the distribution of stocks.
Since 2006, Belgian strategic stocks have rarely been used, and always as part of collective action, as during the Libyan crisis or the invasion of Ukraine.
Ces sstrategic tocks were rarely used since the creation of Apetra in 2006. “These rare releases were made to take part in collective action by the AIE, particularly during the Libyan crisis» indicates Etienne Mignolet, spokesperson for the FPS Economy. In response to theinvasion of Ukraine by Russia, the IEA had also launched a collective action to release 60 million barrels, in which Belgium participated.
The summary
- We knew that the government was going to transform Apetra, the agency responsible for strategic stocks of petroleum products, into Aseva, and extend its role to other products.
- But the bill which implements this decision also plans to better prepare the response to a potential oil crisis.
- The FPS Economy will be responsible for establishing an emergency plan, with measures to restrict demand, as well as a list of priority consumers.
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