Gazprom steps up pressure on EU
-Does the EU need more gas from Russia, or not? Gazprom’s Aleksandr Medvedev asked at an oil and gas conference this week, reminding the listeners of Prime Minister Putin’s warning that Russia could eventually withdraw from huge east-west pipeline projects like the Nord Stream and instead decide to develop LNG.
In his speech at the international annual Gas of Russian conference this week, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee Aleksandr Medvedev highlighted that the EU has a contradictory energy policy.
The speech is available on Gazprom’s website
According to the EU’s New Energy Policy, presented last week, the union will cut oil and gas imports by 20 percent by year 2020 and instead emphasis the development of alternative energy sources.
Mr. Medvedev, the Director General of Gazprom’s export department, believes however that the EU is contradictory in its energy objectives. He highlights that the prognosis of Gazprom, shows that the gas needs of the EU by 2020 will increase significantly and not decrease as outlined by the EU Commission. The Gazprom prognosis matches the figures of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which states that the EU by 2020 will need to import up to 280 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year.
The IEA figures are included in the World Energy Outlook 2008, which was presented in London last week.
The speech of Mr. Medvedev came just two days after Premier Putin told journalists that Russia might choose to export LNG to alternative markets instead of building pipelines like the Nord Stream. He expressed major frustration with the EU members, which are deliberately hampering progress in the prestige project.
The prominent Gazprom official reiterated the message of Vladimir Putin. How is Russia supposed to understand the EU energy position?
-We have repeatedly said that we are getting highly contradictory signals from our European partners on whether Europe needs Russian gas or not, Mr. Medvedev said.
