New York Times: Gazprom’s Dwindling Clout

At a meeting in Moscow on Jan. 14, the European Commission’s vice president for energy union, Maros Sefcovic, was surprised to hear the head of Gazprom, Aleksei Miller, declare that if the Europeans want continued access to the Russian natural gas that is currently piped through Ukraine, Europe would have to build its own pipelines to the Turkish border.

Citing “transit risks” presented by transporting natural gas through “unreliable countries,” the Russians plan to bypass Ukraine and build a system known as Turk Stream under the Black Sea through Anatolia to the Balkans. Western Europe, which gets roughly 30 percent of its natural gas from Russia, will just have to live with the decision, Mr. Sefcovic was told. “Turk Stream is now the only pipeline,” Mr. Miller told reporters. “Our European partners have been notified of this, and their task now is to establish the necessary gas-transporting infrastructure from the borders ofTurkey and Greece.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Sefcovic and other experts know that European consumers have no real cause for worry. Mr. Miller’s blustering tone reflects little more than the twilight of Gazprom’s heavy-handed pipeline politics; the fact is that the Russian energy giant’s grip on prices and distribution is weakening as gas and oil prices fall and competition rises.

Read the full article HERE.