European Commission not knowing exact quantity of jet fuel in Europe

MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. The European Commission has a full overview of fuel quantities in member-countries of the European Union but will make no comment on jet fuel volumes available with companies. "First of all, when we talk about these different oil products, it’s very important to note one thing, because there’s lots of reporting in the press and there are lots of statements made about this. Contrary to gas and electricity, oil markets are unregulated. So there is no existing standard process to collect data in a situation of crisis for oil," Commission Spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said. "There is also lack of transparency on the evolution of stocks from the different actors, especially on oil products. And here we talk about all refined products from crude. And to add to that, the very unstable geopolitical situation. It does not help as the situation pretty much changes every day," she stressed. "The European Commission has a full overview of how much fuel our member-states have," Itkonen said. "We meet with our member-states, industry representatives, the International Energy Agency and other stakeholders on a weekly basis since the crisis started," she said, adding that the next meeting of the oil coordination group will be held on May 7. "This information sharing mechanism works well and it has brought additional transparency and it helps to coordinate our action," the spokesperson noted. Itkonen urged to distinguish commercial stocks and strategic stocks. Concerning commercial inventories, "the Commission receives information from the airlines and other relevant actors. They are not obliged to give or share this information but they do participate in the ongoing coordination effort," she said. "It is not for the European Commission to pronounce how much jet fuels companies or member-state have. It is not for us to make this information public," Itkonen said, adding that the Commission has to observe confidentiality and has no access to commercial contracts. The spokesperson also stressed that the European Commission will unveil its recommendations to airlines on jet fuel use later this week.