Economic Times: Shale gas could curb Gazprom prices: Guenther Oettinger, EU commissioner

The development of shale gas in Europe could help the continent obtain better deals from its current key supplier, the Russian giant Gazprom, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Friday. 

"I am sure (that) to have some shale gas option is a good instrument for our long-term negotiations (with) Gazprom and Russia", Oettinger told journalists in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. 

Success with shale gas in the United States has encouraged exploration in several EU states including Britain, Poland and Hungary. Lithuania is also considering an exploration deal with Chevron. 

Oettinger insisted that Gazprom, currently Lithuania's sole natural gas supplier, was charging the Baltic nation, a Soviet republic until 1990, up to 40 percent more than the market price in Germany. MORE