Russia will remain the European Union's main energy partner for decades, the newly appointed European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said Thursday, an indication that the bloc's policy of significantly cutting its dependence on its eastern neighbor for energy remains a distant goal.
Russia will remain the European Union's main energy partner for decades,
the newly appointed European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said
Thursday, an indication that the bloc's policy of significantly cutting its
dependence on its eastern neighbor for energy remains a distant goal.
Russia supplies the EU with a quarter of its natural gas, though EU-Russian
energy relations have been tense in recent years as disputes between Moscow and
Ukraine have disrupted supplies to Europe for weeks.
Moscow
was Oettinger's first official destination outside
the EU since he took the current post in February. But he said it shouldn't be
interpreted as a sign of a policy shift, as his next trips include
Central
Asia
, a region the EU sees as an alternative to Russian gas. Oettinger will
travel to
Azerbaijan
and
Turkmenistan
next
week.
Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires at the sidelines of an energy conference,
Oettinger didn't directly answer when asked if the EU is still aiming to reduce
its dependence on
Russia
, but
mentioned wider usage of renewable energy as a means of reducing overall
dependence on hydrocarbons.
"
Russia
will
remain
Europe
's most important energy partner for decades,"
Oettinger, a German conservative, said, adding that he came to
Russia
to
discuss the common interests in the field of energy.
"We have much to discuss," he said adding that there will be
"for a long time (energy) partnership with
Russia
."
He will participate in the official launch of Nord Stream pipeline construction
Friday.
Nord Stream is a 1,220-kilometer, EUR7.4 billion pipeline project led by
Russian state-run energy giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) in partnership with
Germany
's
E.ON AG (EOAN.XE), Ruhrgas and BASF-Wintershall.
It will link the Russian city of
Vyborg
and
Greifswald
in
Germany
,
running under the
Baltic Sea
and passing through Russian,
Finnish, Swedish, Danish and German waters.
"This project combines political and economic interests of the European
Union and
Russia
",
Oettinger said.
In recent years, the EU has been seeking to ease its dependence on Russian gas
imports, and has been strongly supporting a 3,300 kilometer project, the
Nabucco pipeline, which would bring Caspian gas--and possibly some from
Central
Asia
and the
Middle East
--to the 27-country bloc by
bypassing
Russia
.
Oettinger sounded less optimistic when it came to
Russia
's
other ambitious pipeline project, the South Stream, which he called just a
"project in planning."
"We must give a vote when all the details of planning are complete"
he said.
South Stream is scheduled to transport gas from
Russia
and
Central
Asia
to
Europe
via the
Black
Sea
from 2015, bypassing
Ukraine
.
Russian energy minister Seggey Shmatko said Thursday that
Moscow
is
still eyeing construction of South Stream despite the development of Nabucco
and possible amelioration of cooperation with
Ukraine
on
transit of gas.
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