courtesy E.ON

The second anniversary of the Kyoto accord dawned on Friday with a new commitment from G8 ministers and developing world leaders to expand Kyoto carbon-trade from Europe to the world. Only pipeline ownership proved divisive.

Reports from wire service Reuters, however, and Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten suggested a split in the European Union’s 27-nation bloc over ownership of gas pipelines.

The EU, lead by its competition bureau, wants to separate oil companies from their pipelines, just as national oil companies in Norway, France, Germany and Russia grow exponentially.

The EU had only recently forced state entities to take on infrastructure operatorship to help grant new oil companies access to pipeline infrastructure. In non-EU Norway, pipeline access is already regulated. U.K. pipeline access has largely been negotiated between private parties.