“NATURAL GAS IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES” WORKSHOP
IICEC together with the Atlantic Council and EUCERS organized a one-day workshop in Sabancı University Karaköy Minerva Palace on 19 November 2013. The workshop brought together members of the academia, representatives of relevant energy businesses as well as officials from the countries involved and started with the welcome address of John LYMANN, Director at the Atlantic Council’s energy and environment programme, Prof. Dr. Friedbert PFLUEGER, EUCERS director and Prof. Dr. Nihat BERKER, President of Sabancı University who introduced the topic of the conference – Natural Gas in the Eastern Mediterranean: Opportunities and Challenges – to a 100-strong audience.
The first panel, Eastern Mediterranean Gas – Conflict or Cooperation?, started off with a discussion about the political and geographical realities of the region as well as a review of the natural gas projects that are being developed. The panel was moderated by George SHAMMAS ,Chairman, Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority; Hasan Selim ÖZERTEM, Head of Center for Energy Security Studies, International Strategic Research Organization (USAK), Ankara, Turkey; Prof. Dr. Friedbert PFLUEGER, Director, EUCERS King’s College London, UK; Prof. Dr. Hüseyin BAĞCI, Department Chair of International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey; Prof. Dr. Ahmet EVİN, Founding Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sabancı University, Turkey.
The second panel, Eastern Mediterranean Gas – Market and Export Infrastructure Options: Business Views, was made up of business representatives who have an interest in the regional gas market, and moderated by Harry TZIMITRAS, Director, Prio Cyprus Centre. Speakers included Matthias KEUCHEL, General Manager, EnerjiSA; Bekir Sami ACAR, Managing Director, EWE Turkey; Nusret CÖMERT, Vice Chairman of PETFORM, Turkey; Kanat EMİROĞLU, Chairman of the Board for Global Enerji and Simone BERTOLO, Head of LNG Business Development, Upstream Gas, Enel S.p.A., Italy.
The third panel, Eastern Mediterranean Gas and the Southern Gas Corridor, focused on the contribution of eastern Mediterranean gas to the Southern Corridor – a project that seeks to help European Union member states to wean themselves off their dependence on Russian gas. The panel was moderated by John ROBERTS, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council U.S., and the speakers of the panel included Dr. Frank UMBACH, Associate Director, EUCERS King’s College London, UK; Androulla KAMINARA, Director/Special Adviser European Commission; Janusz LUKS, CEO, Central Europe Energy Partners, Brussels, Belgium; İbrahim PALAZ, Expert, Energy and Economic Research Center, Caspian Strategy Institute (HASEN), Turkey; Yvonne RUF, Energy Infrastructure Expert, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants GmbH, Germany; and Aura SABADUS, Research Associate, EUCERS King’s College London, UK.
