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2018-04-16 09:35:00

RUSSIAN GAS FOR EUROPE AGAIN

RUSSIAN GAS FOR EUROPE AGAIN

PLATTS -  Russia and Ukraine's ongoing gas dispute shows how urgently the EU must improve its energy resilience by cutting fossil fuel imports, EU energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said Thursday.

The EU's main challenge is in natural gas, as 76% of the EU's gas imports came from just Norway and Russia in 2016, Canete told an energy conference in Brussels.

He said Russia would remain a key energy supplier for the EU in the short term.

"What is important is to ensure that Russian energy supplies into Europe are subject to competitive pressures from the existence of other suppliers able to compete anywhere across our market," Canete said.

"This will ensure that the continued role of Russia as one of our main energy providers does not come at the expense of our energy security and resilience, nor does it lead to excessive prices," he said.

The European Commission has been more relaxed about the EU's oil and coal imports as these are global markets with multiple suppliers and supply route options, but sees the "increasing geopolitical uncertainties" as a driver to move away from all fossil fuels in the long-term, he said.

Canete also restated the EC's support for Ukraine as a transit country for Russian gas to the EU.

"We...firmly believe in the role of Ukraine as a strategic European transit country which we believe to be in the mutual interest of Europe, of Ukraine and also of Russia," he said.

Russia and Ukraine are still disputing their current transit contract, after a Stockholm arbitration court ruling in February failed to resolve it.

The contract expires at the end of 2019, which is when Russia's 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany is planned to come online. Russia and Ukraine have yet to start talks on post-2019 transit terms.

Canete also restated the EC's interest in the East Mediterranean as a new gas supply source for the EU.

He said he planned to visit Egypt in the coming weeks to discuss energy cooperation, including for gas, and expected this to be strengthened in an updated memorandum of understanding with Egypt which the EU is close to finalizing.

Longer term, the EU is focusing on renewable energy, energy efficiency, demand side response and storage to help reduce its dependency on imported oil and gas, Canete said.

The EU is in the final stages of agreeing 2030 targets for renewables and energy efficiency, to follow the targets already agreed for 2020, and adapting its electricity market design to cope with more renewables.

It is also looking at moving more heating and transport demand to electricity, particularly given the falling the cost of renewable electricity.

"I am deeply convinced that this energy transition, understood as a long-term project which has to be achieved through small but consistent steps, remains our strategic answer to the geopolitical uncertainties we are facing," Canete said.

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Earlier:

W.Europe
2018, April, 13, 17:50:00

RUSSIAN GAS FOR EUROPE ANEW

PLATTS - "It cannot be the case that Nord Steam 2 means that Ukraine no longer has any significance in transiting [Russian] gas," Merkel said after a meeting with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.

 

 

W.Europe
2018, April, 13, 17:45:00

FINLAND'S GAS PERMITS

GAZPROM - Nord Stream 2 AG received the second permit required for the construction and operation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), thereby completing the permitting procedure in Finland.

 Gas
2018, April, 11, 13:15:00

RUSSIAN GAS UP TO 400 MCMD

PLATTS - Russian flows of natural gas into Germany and Slovakia combined rose above 400 million cu m/d in each of the final three days of Week 14 for the first time on almost five months as Brotherhood flows increased, data from S&P Global Platts Analytics showed.

 

 Gas
2018, April, 11, 13:00:00

RUSSIAN GAS FOR AUSTRIA: +77%

GAZPROM - from January 1 through April 8, 2018, Gazprom had supplied Austria with 3.7 billion cubic meters of gas, a rise of 77.2 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

 Gas
2018, April, 2, 09:05:00

UKRAINE'S GAS PRICES WILL UP

REUTERS - The International Monetary Fund told Reuters on Friday Ukraine should allow the market to determine gas prices as promised under a $17.5 billion loan program, after the government extended a below-market level pricing system for households.

 

 Gas
2018, March, 23, 08:35:00

GAZPROM'S STRATEGIC PROJECTS

GAZPROM - Gazprom continues to implement a number of strategic projects in the west. This work is key to the long-term development of Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System (UGSS) and the provision of reliable gas supplies to consumers in the European part of the country and the traditional European markets.

 Gas
2018, March, 21, 12:35:00

RUSSIAN GAS TO ITALIA: +99%

GAZPROM - The Italian Republic is currently the third-largest importer of Russian gas. According to preliminary data, Russia’s gas exports to Italy grew by 99 per cent in March 1–19, 2018, compared to the same period of last year.

 

 

Tags: RUSSIA, EUROPE, GAS, UKRAINE