producers and consumers. In 2008, the GECF changed to the Organization of
Gas Exporting Countries (OGEC); however, it has not yet introduced an
effective regulation means and may“clone”OPEC’s output quota system, but
the prospect is unclear since most of the OPEC members are WTO members and
perform fully market-oriented operations, while many OGEC members, espe-
cially Russia and Kazakhstan, still practice a national monopoly and reject
market liberalization reforms.- The Energy Charter Treaty Organization. In 1991, relevant countries signed the
European Energy Charter Treaty(also called theEnergy Charter Treaty) in The
Hague, The Netherlands; this Treaty officially came into force in 1998.
Currently, the Energy Charter Treaty Organization has 51 members (China is an
observer in this Organization, while Russia is a signatory country to this Treaty,
but its parliament did not approve the Treaty). The purpose of this Organization
is to ensure that investments, trade and transport in the energyfield conform to
the WTO rules and to prohibit country-specific discrimination in thefield of
energy investment; its ultimate goal is to establish a cross-Eurasia common
energy market composed of energy-producing countries and energy-consuming
countries; however, as market liberalization vigorously advocated by the EU is
boycotted by Russia and the Central Asian countries, the prospect for a common
energy market is grim. The difference between this Organization and the pre-
vious international energy organizations lies in including not only the main
energy-producing countries and energy-consuming countries, but also energy
transport transit countries.
Moreover, there are many regional bilateral treaties within the framework of
global energy governance, but these treaties are highly regional, well-targeted and
temporary. For example, theSoutheast Europe Energy Community Treatysigned
by the EU and the Balkan States in 2005 aims at incorporating the natural gas
resources in the Balkan region into the EU energy market; theEU-North Africa
Energy Action Planreleased in 1998 and theEU-Mediterranean Energy Plan
issued in 2006 are designed to incorporate energy in Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Syria,
Lebanon, etc. into the EU energy market; theEU-Africa Energy Alliance Plan
released in 2007 aims at integrating energy in Sub-Saharan Africa; theBaku Action
Planand theBlack Sea Action Planin 2004 aim at establishing a Caucasus energy
market and incorporating it into the EU energy market where conditions permit.
8.2.2 Reform of the Global Energy Governance System
For a long time, the global energy governance system has been characterized by
market regulations led by Western countries, which mainly means that the WTO,
the IEA, the Energy Charter Treaty Organization and OPEC (included to some
extent) are controlled and influenced by Western countries, and Western countries
are highly influential in the development of the rules. The international energy
8 The Global Energy Governance Structure... 159