ENERGY SECURITY RISKS AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS TO BE REVIEWED AT UN FORUM BY INDUSTRY LEADERS

ENERGY SECURITY RISKS AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS

TO BE REVIEWED AT UN FORUM BY INDUSTRY LEADERS

Experts from OPEC, European Union, Russian Federation, United States

Will Meet in Geneva on 20 November; Follow-Up to 2002 Round Table Success

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 7 November -- In response to pressing energy issues, and as a follow-up to the successful Energy Security Roundtable held last year, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Committee on Sustainable Energy is to launch an Energy Security Forum during its annual session on Thursday 20 November 2003, beginning at 10 a.m. in the Salle du Conseil of the Palais des Nations.  Panellists and delegates will be invited to share their views on how energy security risks and the financial markets affect each other.

Energy security is today of uppermost importance to policy makers, energy industries and the general public.  There is an increased sense of vulnerability and concern about the future availability of reasonably priced energy.  The instability and continuing conflict in Iraq, the tensions in the Middle East, sabotage and terrorist attacks in major oil- and gas-producing countries, the unfavourable investment climate in a number of producing countries, the growing energy import dependence of major consuming countries, and the corporate and policy failures, such as the Enron bankruptcy and the recent electric power blackouts in North America and Europe, are all contributing to heightened anxieties.

Some of the most critical political concerns debated recently, in particular at the United Nations Security Council, have direct implications for energy security, and the economies of ECE member States of the Economic Commission for Europe.

The Energy Security Forum will address the persistent vulnerability and instability of world energy markets and its interaction with global financial markets under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The United Nations contribution to resolving these issues lies in its convening capacity for policy dialogue, as illustrated by the Global Compact launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations with the private sector.  The Energy Security Forum will bring together a unique group of energy companies, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Country (OPEC), key consuming countries, major non-OPEC hydrocarbon exporters and leading financial institutions to determine how energy security risks are perceived by different constituencies and how such risks can be mitigated through dialogue.

The Energy Security Forum is designed to promote a dialogue for reconciling three different points of view:  energy security risks as perceived by the energy industry, by financial institutions and by governments.  The Forum will be launched with a series of presentations, to examine how energy security risks and financial markets interact.  There will be a debate on energy security risks between senior executives of the energy industries, the financial community and delegates of the intergovernmental ECE Committee on Sustainable Energy.

The panellists for the Forum will be:  Alvaro Silva-Calderon, Secretary- General, OPEC; Red Cavaney, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Petroleum Institute; Vagit Alekperov, President and CEO, Lukoil/Dmitry Tarasov, First Vice President, Lukoil; Bruno Porro, Chief Risk Officer and Member of the Board, Swiss Re; Robert McFarlane, Chief Executive Officer, Energy and Communication Solutions; Albert Bressand, Executive Senior Vice President, Shell International; Trevor Pitman, Group Managing Director, Fitch Ratings; Matthew Harris, Managing Director, Co-Head Global Energy Group, Credit Suisse First Boston; Makarov, President, ITERA Group; Victor Kaluzhny, Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Envoy of Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation; Alan Banks, Chief Executive Officer, Core Ratings; Magne Seljeflot, Chairman, Aon Energy Group; Togrul Bagirov, Executive Vice President, Moscow International Petroleum Club; Wilfried Czernie, Senior General Manager, Ruhrgas; Leonid Bokhanovsky, Senior Vice President, StroyTransGas; Igor Solyarsky, Vice President, Transneft; Stanislav Tsygankov, Director of Department, Gazprom; and Nigel Alington, Executive Director, Aon Risk Consulting.

There will be a press conference with selected speakers held in Salle III at 1 p.m. on Thursday, 20 November.

For more information please contact:Mr. Frederic Romig, Industrial Restructuring, Energy and Enterprise Development Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Palais des Nations CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland; tel.: +41(0)22 917 41 40, 917 24 07; fax.: +41(0)22 917 02 27, 917 00 38; e-mail: frederic.romig@unece.org.  Mr. Sead Vilogorac, Industrial Restructuring, Energy and Enterprise Development Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE, Palais des Nations CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland; tel.: +41(0)22 917 24 62; fax.: +41(0)22 917 00 38; e-mail: sead.vilogorac@unece.org; web site:  http://www.unece.org/ie.

* *** *