The European
Commission insists that Russia's South Stream gas pipeline operates in the
European Union exclusively under European rules, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther
Oettinger said Thursday.
“We must say in a
single voice that South Stream can exist, but according to our rules,”Oettingersaid.
On Friday,
Oettinger is expected to meet with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak to
discuss future Russian gas deliveries to Europe.
“Safe transit of
Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, legal and technical aspects of the South
Stream project, Gazprom’s access to the full capacity of the OPAL pipeline and
issues related to the continuation of the Russia-EU Energy Dialogue will become
the main topics for the discussion,” the Russian Energy Ministry said in a
statement Monday.
The issue about
future gas transfers from Russia to the European Union arose as the Ukrainian
crisis escalated.
On June 16,
Russian gas giant Gazprom introduced a prepayment system for gas
deliveries to Ukraine amid a dispute with Kiev over its $4.5 billion gas debt.
The European Commission and Gazprom anticipate problems in winter, when Kiev's
gas reserves are likely to be depleted.
Aiming to
diversify export routes from Russia to Central and Southern European countries,
Moscow began constructing the South Stream pipeline across the Black Sea in
2012.
The new pipeline
will allow avoiding transfers via Ukraine, known for its nonpayment of gas
debts and for stealing Russian gas. It will become fully operational by 2018
with its first deliveries expected in 2016.
The European
Commission is trying to hamper the project saying it violates the EU's Third
Energy Package, which stipulates that the pipelines in the European Union
cannot belong to the natural gas extractors.
Moscow insists
that the construction of the pipeline does not contradict the regulations in
any way.