Tag: Gas

The ousting of Mirek Topolánek is raising questions regarding a series of high-profile international meetings in Prague, as the Czech prime minister-in-resignation will still be the EU's official chair when the summits take place in early May.

Construction of the EU-supported gas pipeline project Nabucco will begin in 2011, according to Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International. In an interview with Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria, Mitschek gave more details of the consortium's plans.

Gazprom and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan last week signed a memorandum of understanding for long-term supplies of Central Asian gas to Russia at market prices, further undermining the EU's favoured Nabucco pipeline, analysts said.

Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Ðelić said yesterday (24 March) that the EU had gone "a bit too far" by giving five billion euro for the stimulus plan to its member states, and "not a single euro cent to any of the south-east European countries".

European Union leaders approved a plan today (20 March) to spend five billion euro on energy and broadband Internet infrastructure, after weeks of squabbling over which projects should receive funding.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Central and Eastern European countries will push for the Nabucco gas pipeline project during an EU summit on 19-20 March in Brussels. The statement came as Germany refused to back public funding for the pipeline, which aims to reduce the EU’s dependency on Russian gas.

The Nord Stream gas pipeline project has just taken an important step by publishing its environmental assessment report, and construction can begin in early 2010, Sebastian Sass, head of Nord Stream's EU representation, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The Nord Stream gas pipeline project has just taken an important step by publishing its environmental assessment report and construction can begin in early 2010, Sebastian Sass, head of Nord Stream's EU representation, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The European Union is 'very concerned' about the risk of a new gas crisis after recent comments from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Commission chief José Manuel Barroso said yesterday (5 March).

The EU must "restore self-confidence and cohesion" in its policy towards Russia, argues Arkady Moshes, programme director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, in a February paper for the Robert Schuman Foundation.

Policymakers in the European Union have become "too technocratic and business-oriented" in their relations with countries like Russia and Ukraine and no longer understand national powerplays, argues James Sherr of the UK's Chatham House in an interview with EurActiv Slovakia.

"Europe is making a serious mistake by relying heavily on Russia as a source of gas," argues former Ukrainian foreign minister Boris Tarasyuk in an interview with EurActiv Slovakia.

Lawmakers in the European Parliament are considering inviting Russia to join the Union's Nabucco gas pipeline project, to avoid competition with rival projects sponsored by Moscow in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute.

Gas supply interruptions from Russia to the EU via Ukraine show that the current "status quo is defective and unsustainable as a policy," argue Elena Gnedina and Michael Emerson, research fellows at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), in a January policy brief.

For the first time, Czech Prime Minister and current EU president Mirek Topolánek has deviated from the official Brussels stance of minimising the relevance of Russia's 'South Stream' gas pipeline by describing it as a "direct threat" to the EU's preferred Nabucco project.

The Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, which caused disruptions in supply to eighteen European countries this winter, was a "sharp reminder" that Europe needs to get its act together on energy security, the European Commission has stressed.

Leading energy experts yesterday (19 January) asked difficult questions in the European Parliament about the future of the EU's flagship Nabucco gas pipeline project, which is seen by many as a panacea for decreasing the Union's dependence on Russian imports.

The European Commission has reacted cautiously to an announcement that Russia and Ukraine have resolved their standoff and will resume gas deliveries to Europe after signing a ten-year gas transit agreement.

On the tenth day since 18 EU countries began to experience serious gas shortages, Moscow and Kiev are preparing competing summits with EU leaders over the weekend, as the Union struggles to coordinate its foreign policy response.

Expectations that the Ukraine-Russia gas dispute would be resolved swiftly were shattered yesterday (13 January) after the two sides exchanged further accusations, leaving Europeans cold for a second week.

Hit worst by the current Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, Bulgaria is poised to restart one of the nuclear reactors at its Kozloduy nuclear power plant, the closure of which was one of the conditions of the country's EU accession.

Just as Europe is experiencing a particularly cold winter, all Russian gas supplies to Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia were halted overnight (6 January) following a row between Moscow and Kiev over pricing, reports Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria.

The European Commission's Second Strategic Energy Review warns that net imports of fossil fuels will remain constant until 2020 despite EU efforts to move towards a 'low carbon' economy. Gas supply security takes centre stage in the review.  

Soaring demand, high oil prices and a "delayed supply response" from exporting countries have driven up natural gas prices in the past 18 months, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which warns that the situation is unlikely to improve in the short term.