By Chryssa Liaggou - Kathimerini
The chairman of the board of Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom, Alexey Miller, is expected in Athens today, probably carrying with him a proposal for a strategic alliance in the energy sector, sources said. The importance of the visit is indicated by the fact that besides senior and junior ministers, and the head of the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA), Miller is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.
Miller reportedly requested these meetings himself and they were arranged some three weeks ago. He had scheduled the trip to Athens within the context of Gazprom's business partnership with the Kopelouzos energy group, which is a major player in the plan to build an oil pipeline between the Bulgarian port of Burgas on the Black Sea and Alexandroupolis on the Aegean coast.
Officials from both the Development and the Foreign ministries stressed yesterday there was no set agenda and avoided providing further details. It appears that the meetings would have been secret had it not been for a revelation by Skai Radio.
A further fact underscoring the importance of the visit is that Miller, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is coming at a time when Gazprom is said to be reassessing its overall strategy. The new strategy seems to be focusing on increasing the quantities of natural gas the company allocates to the European market. In this context it eyes both the extension of long-term contracts for natural gas sale to various country-clients and the search for new routes for the transmission of these increased quantities.
This strategic planning seems to include Greece as a transit country. Competent officials were stressing yesterday the intense Russian interest in the Greek-Turkish-Italian natural gas pipeline which will allow for greater quantities to reach Western Europe. «Russia wishes to select its strategic partners for the next 30 years from now,» the country's Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko stated yesterday after his meeting in Moscow with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Ovcharov.