STOCKPILING, ENERGY SECURITY AND THE SINGLE MARKET

FETSA’s executive director, Ravi Bhatiani, tells Tank Storage Magazine about the proposals for a Single Market Emergency Instrument. A more volatile world leads to greater economic planning for worst case scenarios. In September, the European Commission proposed a Single Market Emergency Instrument. While this was partly triggered by the war in Ukraine, it was mostly prompted by the lack of stockpiles of critical supplies at the start of the pandemic and the semiconductor shortage. In summary, the Single Market Emergency Instrument establishes a framework of measures to anticipate, prepare for and respond to impacts of crises on the single market. Part of this project is to build up stockpiles of critical raw materials and strategic products across the European Union. Stockpiles act as a buffer to even out supply and demand in case of market volatility. They also potentially offer a mechanism to stabilise prices, if stockpiles are released during a period of market tightness. A stockpile also reduces other countries’ leverage on Europe, as a stockpile can help to reduce dependency on a third country and reduces the impact of a supply cut off, for example. HOW MIGHT AN...