ST. GEORGE‘S, Grenada: A call has being made for support to an integrated and regional approach to energy security and fair investment conditions by Grenada's Minister of Energy Gregory Bowen. Speaking at the recently concluded meeting of the 6th Western Hemispheric Energy Meeting in Tobago, chaired by US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Trinidad and Tobago Minister for Energy Eric Williams, Minister Bowen said that construction of storage and distribution facilities, as well as the necessary transportation, should be considered under the integrated and regional approach to energy security. Participants included representatives of major oil and gas producers from North and South America and the Caribbean, including Canada, USA, Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru and El Salvador. Minister Bowen said boundaries should be delimited and/or strategic co-operation entered into with great haste. “These steps by Governments will facilitate the financing for developing additional oil and gas resources by private investors and even Governments who have been long awaiting such resolutions, thereby increasing the number of locations of energy production, a critical factor in the energy security equation.” Minister Bowen told the meeting. He added “While I support the US Department of Energy representative’s appeal that countries should open the sector to private investors, the condition of the investment must be fair. One monopoly must not replace another, whether private of government, through privatization or naturalization. Interconnection of the electricity grids, just as proposed for the oil and gas, resources, between countries must be undertaken making the location of generation irrelevant and reducing the cost of electricity.” The Minister noted that the major problem confronting the Western Hemisphere is not an insufficiency of proven reserves, but the locations of the production facilities and the number of such locations. He said a regional and integrated approach will seek to increase production, and strategically locate production sites, as well as utilize the most efficient technology in production thereby also reducing costs, adding that affordable cost of energy is one pillar of energy security. During the Meeting, Grenada was appointed to a technical group chaired by the US Energy Secretary. Other members of the group are Venezuela, Bolivia, Barbados and El Salvador. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com