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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