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Date: 24 June 2021
Will Eurasian Economic Community Integrate Around Crude Oil?
Countries of the Eurasian Economic Community should sign a joint agreement to establish a common market for crude oil and petroleum products in the next two years, according to Mikhail Myasnikovitch, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, who said this after its members met in Brest for talks.
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), which was founded in 2012, is the Moscow-based permanent regulatory body of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). It reports directly to the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, an institution that consists of the leaders and ministers of EAEU: Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. They last met via video conference on May 21. Mikhail Myasnikovich, a former speaker of the Belarusian parliament and the country’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014, has been the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission since February 1, 2020. “We plan to sign the agreement to create a common market for crude and its derivatives by January 1, 2023,” Myasnikovich told journalists after the board meeting in Brest. He also regretted not having adopted a slew of documents on the oil sector in the five countries as previously planned. “In this term of office, we need to adopt the main documents on crude, gas, and industrial cooperation between the states,” the official was quoted as saying. Earlier it had been reported that the Treaty set forth the task of establishing common energy markets for electricity, natural gas, and crude oil alongside its derived products. It was planned to agree on all provisions in 2021 to sign them a year later. A common natural gas market is slated to be launched no later than January 1, 2025, while the crude oil market––by 2023. The countries have made the biggest progress in the electricity sector. Russian lawmakers just passed an act to ratify a protocol to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Community of May 29, 2014, on creating a common Eurasian electric power market. The protocol, which was inked by the leaders of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, seeks to improve energy security in these countries, set some rules for their common electric power market, and further cement their economic ties. The agreement on the electricity market provides for organizing trading in this energy resource between national utility companies in the five countries. The creation of a common electric power market will allow entrepreneurs to freely choose energy suppliers. At the same time, the protocol serves as a blueprint to develop a raft of other documents at subsequent stages to frame the functioning of the common electric power market. These are documents that will regulate electric power trade procedures, its transit through the Union countries, allocation of available capacities of interstate power lines, and information exchange in the market.
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