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Last Updated: Jun 26, 2009 - 11:04:15 AM |
The head of Gazprom's foreign department, Stanislav Tsygankov, told a
conference attended by a senior European energy official that Brussels
was unfairly supporting the Nabucco pipeline while hindering Russian
projects at every step. "We are very concerned about this, about the
clear inconsistency of the EU leadership's approach to the actions of
our firms, which are aiming to ensure their supplies," he said.
Tsygankov's speech summed up the EU's attitude with an allusion to
George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm."
"It appears that all animals are equal, but some are more equal than
others," he said.
The European official, Marjeta Jager, said she agreed on the importance
of securing European demand for Russia's gas but did not mince words in
defending Europe's position.
"Let me set the record straight. Reputation matters in Europe," said
Jager, the European Commission's director of general affairs and
international energy relations.
The exchange showed that the wounds from Russia's January gas conflict
with Ukraine, which saw millions of Europeans cut off from fuel
supplies in the dead of winter, are far from healing.
Talks to resolve the latest sore point in relations between Moscow and
Kiev -- paying some $4 billion to fill Ukraine's gas storage facilities
-- are therefore not likely to be easy.
But Jager said she hoped that a resolution would be found on Monday,
when officials from Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy are to meet in
Brussels with international banks and EU officials to resolve the
payment issue and avoid another gas crisis.
But even if Monday's meeting solves the issue of gas storage, Ukraine's
ability to pay for its own gas supplies for June is still uncertain. A
failure to pay may yet result in another shut-off.
The Ukrainian president's energy envoy said Thursday that Naftogaz
needed to scrape together $120 million by July 7 to pay last month's
bill for Russian gas.
"The date of July 7 is approaching, when payment must be made for gas
received in June," energy envoy Bohdan Sokolovsky said. "The funds
gathered by Naftogaz are not sufficient."
Jager said Sokolovsky has been invited to attend Monday's meeting in
Brussels along with Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky,
Gazprom export chief Alexander Medvedev and Naftogaz chief Oleh Dubyna.
Asked whether she was confident that the meeting would resolve the gas
storage issue, Jager said, "Everyone hopes that the problem will be
fixed. We do not want another gas crisis."
For the long term, Russia hopes to build pipelines that go around
Ukraine, which now transports almost all of the Russian gas meant for
Europe.
Europe, meanwhile, is trying to cut both Russia and Ukraine out of the
equation by building the Nabucco pipeline, which could bring Central
Asian gas directly to Europe.
Tsygankov said European regulators were therefore blocking the progress
of Russia's projects. "Nabucco is getting the green light everywhere
... while our gas transport projects, South and North Stream, are
constantly facing regulatory barriers
Source:Ocnus.net 2009
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