TOMSK, Russia: Russia feels threatened by European Union moves to curtail its role in Europe’s energy markets and has no choice but to seek other buyers, President Vladimir Putin said here yesterday. “We are constantly hearing about some threat of dependence on Russia, that something must be done to limit the entry of Russian companies into the European market,” Putin said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after two days of talks focused on energy.
“What are we supposed to do when we hear the same thing every day? We start looking for other markets.
“When we continually hear the same thing, we perceive this as a threat to limit our admittance to the market and we begin to look for other outlets,” the Russian leader said.
Putin said Russia had no wish to cut back on supplies of energy to countries in Europe - they depend overall on Russia for around one-fourth of their natural gas supplies and a large share of oil supplies - and stressed Moscow had always been a reliable supplier independent of politics.
“We have worked well with you for many years, even when there was the Cold War... . Day after day, the Soviet Union delivered for its partners in Europe.
“What is the point of stoking fears about excessive dependence with regard to Russia” today? Putin asked.
Putin and other top Russian officials have however stressed in recent weeks that China, Japan and other huge markets in Asia are increasingly hungry for Russian energy supplies and have warned that Moscow may shift its priority to serving those clients at the expense of European buyers.
The European Union, some of whose members felt disruption to their gas supplies from Russia in January when Moscow briefly cut shipments to Ukraine amid a price dispute, has responded by telling Moscow not to “politicise” energy trade.
Meanwhile, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom allowed Germany’s BASF a stake in a huge new Siberian gas field in return for a coveted larger foothold in distribution in Western Europe under a deal signed on yesterday.
The deal won an interest in Russian gas for a European industry desperate to secure supplies, after Gazprom shocked Europe last week by saying it could send gas to China or North America if its European expansion was blocked.
BASF chief executive Juergen Hambrecht and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller signed the deal in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The agreement we have just signed demonstrates that Russia and Germany are able to build upon one another. It contributes to the further development of a stable and reliable partnership between Gazprom and BASF,” said Hambrecht.
Gazprom said it was not yet ready to sign a similar deal with German utility E.ON on the Siberian gas field, Yuzhno-Russkoye. E.ON has been in negotiations with Gazprom for the past two years over a stake in the massive project.
Gazprom's export chief Alexander Medvedev told Russian news agencies an agreement could be signed with E.ON within the next three months, on the same terms as with BASF.
E.ON chief executive Wulf Bernotat confirmed that it would take “100 days, about 3 months, to finish up the contract”.
In a joint statement with Gazprom, BASF said its Wintershall unit would get 35% minus one share in Severneftegazprom (SNGP), which holds the licence for developing the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field near Tomsk in western Siberia.
Wintershall will get 25% minus one of SNGP's voting shares and a further 10% with no voting rights.
In return Gazprom will increase its stake in Wingas, its joint venture with Wintershall, to 50% minus one share from 35%. Wintershall currently holds 65%. Wingas focuses on selling and marketing natural gas in Germany.
Gazprom and BASF will also take 50% each of a joint venture called Wingas Europe that will focus on gas distribution in Europe outside Germany.
“The Europeans have no choice but to accept any sources they can get. They may have their worries about Russian gas, but on the long-term basis the biggest gas reserves are in Russia and Iran,” said Per-Ola Hellgren, an analyst at LRP in Germany. – Agencies |
