Tag: energy security

Gazprom is squeezing Athens for better terms to buy DEPA, Greece's sole retail gas distributor, a Greek official said, as the Russian gas export monopoly leverages its position as the only major player in the running.

Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II gas group could agree to take a 50% stake in the Nabucco pipeline consortium by January, boosting Nabucco's prospects in a competition between projects that aim to pipe Azeri offshore gas into Europe.

The European Commission will examine in "pragmatic way" Russia’s request to exempt its Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipelines from EU rules granting competitors access to the infrastructure, EurActiv has learned.

Attempts to accelerate the Gazprom-sponsored South Stream gas pipeline project will not circumvent EU antitrust and environmental obligations, European Commission sources told EurActiv.

European governments are rushing to boost stockpiles of crude oil and fuel, anxious to comply with new EU rules and amid reports that Israel is preparing to launch an attack on Iran.

Lithuania, which closed its Ignalina nuclear power plant as part of its EU accession in 2004, warned that it needed more generous European funding for the site's decommissioning for many years to come. EurActiv reports from Ignalina.

The European Commission has issued a favourable opinion for the construction of the Visaginas nuclear power plant in Lithuania. However, it stressed that the plant should remain economically viable, even though two Russian-backed reactors are planned in the vicinity.

The environmental group Food & Water Europe has accused the Polish author of a European Parliament report on shale gas extraction of resorting to "Cold War" rhetoric against Russia to support the industry's development.

Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom has abandoned plans to increase sales to Europe in 2012, saying it faced stiffer than expected competition from LNG and lower spot market prices. However, the state-owned company said it would meet its planned earnings targets thanks to higher prices charged to consumers.

While protestors in major Russian cities vent frustration over apparent fraud in the recent parliamentary elections, Russia's president is heading to Brussels to meet EU leaders mollified by the unfolding eurozone crisis.

Companies have to courageously embrace the clean revolution but political leaders have to be ambitious enough to allow the economic certainty to invest in the technologies of tomorrow in all of the EU member states, writes Steve Howard, chief sustainability officer at IKEA, in an exclusive op-ed for EurActiv.

Japan's nuclear crisis will speed the elimination of nuclear power from some European countries and render many planned projects too risky, ultimately increasing Europe's dependence on gas.

Upset by Turkish procrastination over the offshore section of the South Stream pipeline, Russia is warning that it may give up on the project altogether. But experts said Moscow could not afford to lose face over what is seen as the biggest political pipeline project of modern times.

The Egyptian crisis yesterday (8 February) entered a new and potentially critical phase as thousands of Suez Canal service workers began an indefinite strike two weeks after protests against the Mubarak regime began.

In the wake of last week's cyber-fraud on the world's carbon market, a senior EU official has told EurActiv that of all threats to Europe's energy supply, cyber-attacks are "probably the most to be feared".

Poland and Slovakia have agreed to launch a feasibility study for a natural gas pipeline known as the 'Poland-Slovakia interconnection'. A decision on whether to proceed with the project will be made in 2012. EurActiv Poland and EurActiv Slovakia report.

Some cuts to the EU's long-term budget for the period 2014-2020 may be necessary given current financial realities, but severe cuts would reduce the European Union's capacity to act as a global player, Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Minister Audronius Ažubalis told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy described the EU-Russia summit held yesterday (7 December) as "wonderful" while European Commission President José Manuel Barroso described it as the "best summit in which I have participated so far with Russia".

The European Commission has asked Bulgaria to change a 2008 bilateral agreement with Russia, providing for full and unrestricted transit of Russian gas across the EU newcomer, a spokesperson for the EU executive told the press today (15 November).

Jerzy Buzek is the first president of the European Parliament in many years to give the role a more political aura rather than just maintain a purely institutional function, according to a leading political analyst.

Europe needs to spend one trillion euros over the next decade on overhauling its energy system to reduce pollution and ensure supply, EU energy chief Günther Oettinger is expected to warn in the next few weeks.

Egemen Bağış, Turkey's chief EU negotiator, sought yesterday (29 September) to unblock Ankara's accession bid by calling on European Union countries to call referenda on the country's EU membership. Turkey may also chose to consult its citizens, he said.

Two EU members, Romania and Hungary, have joined forces with Azerbaijan and Georgia around a project to ship liquefied Azeri gas to their region. Supporters argue that the project could be implemented quickly, but critics point to high costs and vulnerability.

The consortium behind the Nabucco gas pipeline announced yesterday (6 September) that three international public banks are to start due diligence for loans of up to €4 billion.