International cooperation

Annual Coordinating Meeting of Entity Stockholders, or ACOMES

Once a year, heads of national stockpiling agencies of the world meet to share ideas, experiences, and the best practices in stock management and release. The meeting is referred to by its English acronym ACOMES, and every year, agencies in charge of the stockpiles of different states take turns to organise it.

ACOMES first gathered in 1992. Twice (in 2010 and 2023), the meeting has gathered in Tallinn, where it was hosted by the Estonian Stockpiling Agency.

Usually, the stockpiling agencies of about thirty countries attend the ACOMES meetings.

International Energy Agency, or IEA

The International Energy Agency is an independent organisation established by OECD, with headquarters in Paris. It analyses fuel markets and leads the regulation of global emergency fuel stocks.

The organisation issues policy recommendations, analyses, and information on the global energy sector. The agency also focuses on the reduction of CO2 emissions and achieving global climate goals, including the requirements of the Paris climate agreement.

The members of the agency have a strong mutual solidarity and coordination mechanism in place to ensure the security of supply of petroleum products during crises.

Developed industrialised countries, led by the United States, began to build up strategic fuel reserves half a century ago as a result of the first major oil crisis. To counterbalance the disproportionate influence of oil-exporting Arab countries, the leading industrialised countries set up the International Energy Agency in 1974, and countries dependent on fuel imports began to stockpile fuels.

The IEA has 31 member states and 13 partner states, representing 75% of the global energy demand. Estonia became a full member of the International Energy Agency in the autumn of 2013.

European Union Oil Coordination Group

The European Union Oil Coordination Group is a working group of the Directorate-General for Energy, tasked with analysing the security of supply of petroleum products in the union and promoting various measures for the mitigation of risks related to disruptions in the supply.

Regardless of the efforts of the European Union to increase the use of renewable energy, oil-based fuels accounted for 37% of the total energy portfolio of the union (according to Eurostat). Therefore, the Member States of the European Union have agreed on the volume of obligatory liquid fuel stocks that corresponds to the 90 days’ net imports of liquid fuels during the previous year.

The respective directive of the European Union provides for two methods for the calculation of obligatory stockpiles, depending on the national export and import ratio of liquid fuels. Countries are required to monitor that the obligation to maintain stocks based on 90 days’ average net imports would be met even when the export of energy products produced domestically is decreasing.

In addition to the officials of the Ministry of Climate, representatives of the Estonian Stockpiling Agency participate in the meetings of the Coordination Group as needed.