RUSSIA MAKES GAS MOVE ON BALKANS

Russia: Old Energy behaving badly.

Trust Russia on energy, Putin tells Balkan countries
Nick Coleman, June 24, 2007 (AFP via Yahoo News)

WHO
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Croatian President Stipe Mesic, Romanian President Traian Basescu, Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev
the big picture (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Putin announced Russian plans for a new natural gas pipeline traversing the Balkan countries of southeastern Europe.

WHEN
Plans announced June 24.

WHERE
- Plans announced in Zagreb, capital of Croatia.
- Pipeline will transit 8 Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia

WHY
- Basescu led dissent, referencing Russia’s use of energy resources for political pressure on dependent countries. There is tension between Russia and EU member states Poland and Ukraine over gas supplies and pipeline transit. Basecu emphasized the importance of the planned Nabucco gas pipeline from Central Asia and Iran.
- Putin insisted Russia had never failed to keep a contractual obligation, had maintained high ecological standards and avoided the controversial topic of Kosovo. Putin was enthusiastic about
(1) another new gas pipeline, a joint venture between Italy’s ENI and Russia’s Gazprom to carry 30 billion cubic metres of gas/year, running under the Black Sea into Bulgaria and branching to Austria and Italy. Putin called it a “…flagship for cooperation with the Balkan countries."
(2) the planned Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline from Bulgaria's Black Sea coast to Greece's Mediterranean coast. 35-50 million tonnes/year
alternate route (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Putin: “[It is important, regarding energy, to] strengthen mutual trust…transparency, the rule of law and the absence of any discrimination in the openness of markets…Over 40 years, despite serious, really global changes in the world, Russia has not broken one of its contractual obligations, never…"
- Basescu: "We will never accept the idea of using energy as an instrument of political pressure…"
- Medvedev, on the Poland/Ukraine hostility: “[Russia wants] a comprehensive system that will include all our export routes from north to south including existing routes via Poland and Ukraine. So it's not a question of alternatives. It's a question of optimisation, of increasing reliability, of increasing exports…"