Voice of Russia: EU will never go against Russia, concerning the energy market - expert
The European Commission has postponed the discussion over the OPAL gas pipeline, which is a part of the Nord Stream project, promoted by Russian gas company Gazprom, in Germany. The official statement says that European experts should receive additional technical information. Earlier, the EU said that it would postpone the discussion over another gas pipeline, the South Stream pipeline. Russian experts think that this decision has political implications, connected to the situation in Ukraine.
The experts also think that the suspension of the projects threatens the energy safety of the EU itself. This summer the EU representatives said that all issues had been settled, except the pipe from “the third EU energy pack”. The decision was to be made on March 10. OPAL is a land part of Nord Stream project that supplies Western Europe with Russian gas along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The third EU energy pack stipulates that Gazprom has to provide half of the output of OPAL to third persons. But no third persons have volunteered. This term of the third pack slows down the work of the North Stream. This in turn is the cause of Gazprom’s discontent as well as its European partners. Rustam Tankaev, chief expert of the Union of Oil & Gas Producers of Russia doubts that the European Commission has found technical issues. MORE