Gazprom-phobia escalates in Brussels : Voice of Russia
Sep 28, 2011 15:21 Moscow Time |
Russia has urged the European Commission to observe the rights of its energy giant Gazprom. The country’s Energy Ministry said its interests as a supplier and investor and protected by international agreements. The day before, members of the European Commission have searched offices of a number of EU energy companies that are one way or another linked to Gazprom. The Russian giant itself referred to this as common practice being in strict conformity with Brussels’ orders concerning the protection of competition. EU commissioners claim it is too early to talk about any violations. A rigorous search was carried out at offices of Gazprom Germania GmbH, Vemex in the Czech Republic and Lithuanian-based Lietuvos Dujos AB, all of which are Gazprom’s subsidiaries. Apart from that, commissioners visited the offices of German energy giants RWE and E.ON Ruhrgas. This is a totally unprecedented action, according to head of the International Energy Policy Center Yury Solozobov.
"Search operations were not only held in Germany and the Czech Republic - the two largest consumers of Russian gas and Gazprom’s strategically important partners, but in ten other EU countries as well. This obviously points to a coordinated action of Brussels," Yury Solozobov believes.
The European Commission says it suspects companies of dividing the market, limiting access to the gas transport system and holding up prices. In other words, we may be dealing with a cartel conspiracy. At the same time, it is stressed that the fact of inspections does not necessarily confirm guilt. So far, the matter at hand is information acquisition, with EU commissioners’ information hunger notably coinciding with the approaching winter when Europe will be more than ever dependent on Russian gas, Yury Solozobov goes on to say.
"Powerful pressure placed on Gazprom is closely linked to the beginning of the winter heating season and EU’s entering a severe and long-lasting economic crisis. It is their need for cheap energy resources that entails such extraordinary pressure. The European Union is fruitlessly trying to lower the price of long-term contracts. However, the costs of maintaining Gazprom’s thousand-kilometer transit structure cannot only be placed on the shoulders of organizations working at spot prices. Therefore, the Russian energy giant’s arguments are more than reliable in this context," Yury Solozobov says.
Activities of this kind may bring Brussels to trial, warns analyst with the National Energy Security foundation Alexander Pasechnik.
"I have great doubts about the discovery of any violations. They may only be invented, because pricing formulas outlined in gas contracts are perfectly comprehensible and coordinated," stresses Alexander Pasechnik.
Two weeks had not elapsed after EU Energy Chief Guenther Oettinger spoke out harshly against Gazprom after a shareholder’s agreement was signed on the South Stream pipeline. Today, there is another strange coincidence, Alexander Pasechnik is sure.
"Here we may be dealing with a conspiracy. Europe is compelled to take such counterproductive steps due to its concerns about Russian progress along the oriental track and in terms of gas supplies to China," says Alexander Pasechnik.
The Russian authorities have, by the way, repeatedly pointed to the necessity of pursuing a consistent energy policy in Europe. Present-day developments are, above all, harmful to the Europeans themselves, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at last year’s economic forum in Germany.
“I don’t understand at all. How will you heat your houses? You do not want gas; you are not developing nuclear energy. Will you get your heat from firewood? But even for firewood you will need to go to Siberia,” Vladimir Putin said.
Experts also don’t forget about the European Commission’s major weapon against Gazprom - the Third energy Package which bans companies from simultaneously selling gas and owning a pipe. And still, Gazprom’s Nord Stream partners succeeded in their quest for the project’s special exemption from the new reforms. This may also be the case with South Stream, making Brussels adopt some non-European methods, Yuri Solozobov summarizes.
"The pattern was first used in 2004 in case of Blue Stream when the Turkish government arrested two former energy ministers and initiated a special tribunal against them. They faced up to 10 years behind bars for having allegedly signed a treaty unbeneficial for their country. Gazprom was expected to step back in the end but no one was imprisoned. Now we can see a repetition of this “Turkish gambit”, the expert says.
Gazprom provides about a fourth of all gas supplies to Europe. Breaking the transit pattern is unfavorable for the EU and the recent search operations will therefore remain nothing but an intimidating action.
