Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries agreed to seek closer cooperation between oil and gas companies to improve energy trade flows and supply security.

All companies, not just national oil companies, need to cooperate to improve transparency in the market and free up trade, Ian Macfarlane, Australia’s industry minister, said at a media briefing during the APEC energy ministers meeting in Darwin, Australia. An earlier draft communique referred specifically to the impact in the market of state-owned oil companies.

“It’s about ensuring not only a transparency in the market but also a free flow of oil and gas products across borders,” Macfarlane said. “There is an acceptance and a willingness within the APEC community that there are closer relationships between supplier economies and customers economies.”

Ministers from APEC, which accounts for 60 percent of global oil and gas demand, are meeting to discuss energy security and minimizing harmful emissions. The group’s dependency on oil imports is set to rise at a time when governments led by Russia and Venezuela are seizing oil assets from private companies.

“It’s a problem that private, international oil companies find it difficult to develop reserves,” Claude Mandil, the International Energy Agency’s executive director, said in an interview today. “Partnerships of state-controlled and private oil companies are needed, but the way to cooperate hasn’t been invented.”

Russia, Venezuela

BP Plc’s Russian venture lost a court case yesterday over its license to a Siberian gas deposit with enough fuel to supply Asia for five years, allowing Russia’s government to regain control of the field as early as this week.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, Venezuela’s state-run oil company, said on May 14 that it plans to take control of 18 oil rigs currently operated by multinational corporations in order to reduce drilling costs.

“We’re seeing increased competition for the world’s oil reserves, and with the large number of national oil companies around in Asia it really is becoming an issue,” said Gavin Wendt, senior resources analyst at Fat Prophets Funds Management in Sydney. “It’s making it more expensive for commercial, private and Western companies to do deals.”

The Darwin Declaration to be signed by the APEC energy ministers later today will encourage APEC economies to set individual goals for improving energy efficiency, Macfarlane said. Ministers also agreed to develop cleaner and more efficient power generation technologies, including renewables, clean coal, liquefied natural gas, and, for those that are interested, nuclear technologies, he said.

Emissions Trading

Ministers had “no specific discussions” on emissions trading, Macfarlane said. New Zealand was the only member country to express a “strong” view on emissions, he said.

New Zealand pointed out the importance of having a “price signal” for carbon in the market to facilitate investment decisions, said David Parker, New Zealand’s minister for energy and climate, said at the media briefing.

The 21 APEC members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S. and Vietnam.

To contact the reporters on this story: Shigeru Sato in Darwin, Australia at ssato10@bloomberg.net ; Angela Macdonald-Smith through the Sydney newsroom at +61- amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net .

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