2011

Is Turkmenistan again moving towards Russia, despite EC visit? — by EEO — last modified Jun 01, 2011 08:22 PM

 

South Stream's winding road to Baumgarten — by EEO — last modified Sep 07, 2011 02:07 PM

It was in 2007 that Russian Gazprom and Italian ENI announced their joint plans for the South Stream pipeline. The 63 BCM/year pipeline is supposed to contribute to Europe's energy security by diversifying supply routes of Russian gas to Europe. By December 2015, less then five years from now, South Stream AG expects the first gas to reach the EU. Besides supplying South Eastern and Central Europe, part of South Stream should also reach Southern Italy. Judging by all the intergovernmental agreements, the South Stream project has received much political and diplomatic support from the Russian state. Meanwhile Gazprom has succeeded, in addition to ENI, to attract some other strong European partners, such as French EdF and German BASF subsidiary, Wintershall. In light of the 'Arab Spring' and the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, the case for gas in the EU, in particular for Russian gas, has grown stronger. Moreover, gas is the ideal clean complementary source of energy that can back up renewable energy. The South Stream integrated feasibility study is due in September, however, the pipeline's realisation is not a given yet. Many actors are involved and quite a few hurdles are left on the road to Baumgarten. The EEO looks into how the project progressed in its search for partners and what the roles are of countries such as Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey and Serbia.

Germany sees no need for third Nord Stream string — by EEO — last modified Jul 21, 2011 02:12 PM

Founded with the support of former Russian President Vladimir Putin and then German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder more then ten years ago, the Saint Petersburg Dialogue has turned into an annual event where, amongst others, representatives of Russian and German major companies meet. As a result of the German decision to phase out nuclear energy by 2020, the business debate was mostly dominated by energy. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Victor Zubkov stressed Russia’s willingness to increase gas supplies to Germany and suggested to build a third string of the Nord Stream pipeline if needed. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, does not see any need to increase gas supplies from Russia, arguing that renewable energy would replace most of the nuclear power plants.