Tag: gas pipeline

EU energy ministers meeting in Poland today (20 September) will debate a paper by the European Commission, which makes the case for strengthening electricity interconnections in the face of Germany's nuclear phase-out.

€200 billion is needed to upgrade Europe's gas and electricity grids over the coming decade, the European Commission said yesterday (17 November), adding that half of the sum will have to come from government coffers at a time of budgetary presssure.

175,000 square kilometres of previously-disputed territory was finally carved up between Norway and Russia on Monday (6 September), after 40 years of negotiations with regard to exploiting the area for its oil and gas drilling potential.

Russia and Bulgaria have established a framework of agreements regarding the Bulgarian section of the South Stream gas pipeline and new gas contracts. But the negotiation process is still far from over, write Ewa Paszyc and Tomasz Dąborowski for Polish think-tank the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in a July commentary.

Although the EU's proposed Nabucco gas pipeline is suffering from a lack of finance, demand and suppliers and could be delayed further, the EU and its member states should still back the project politically and financially, argues a European policy think-tank.

The Ukraine-Russia gas-and-fleet deal signed in Kharkiv last week illustrates how short-term political thinking and narrow business interests prevail in Ukraine, write Natalia Shapovalova and Balazs Járábik from Madrid-based think-tank FRIDE.

EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger paid his first visit to Bulgaria on 3 March, the country's national day. Although the visit received limited coverage, it gave the commissioner an opportunity to criticise Sofia's sometimes questionable energy choices, according to Panayot Angarev of Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner publication in Bulgaria.

Ukrainian citizens face a "Visa Berlin Wall" when trying to enter the EU and the visa requirement procedures of European consulates are similar to those in communist Russia, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Kostyantyn Yeliseyev told EurActiv Germany in an interview.

A relatively abundant, cheap and clean source of energy, natural gas is becoming an increasingly essential part of Europe's energy mix, winning supporters for a variety of uses ranging from power generation, household heating and transport to fertiliser, plastics, and other manufacturing products.