Do not be afraid, Europe, we will not leave without gas!
The United States does not have the ability to replace Russian gas supplies to Europe, Russia's permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said.
“Moreover, even if Americans donated liquefied gas to Europe for free, they simply wouldn’t have enough opportunities to replace Russian supplies,” he said radio "Sputnik".
Why could the US not be an alternative to gas supplies from Russia? The permanent representative named three reasons.
First, in the United States today there is only one export terminal for LNG shipped in Louisiana. Half a dozen terminals in different parts of the country are only planned to be built. It takes time. And is there enough gas? In addition, in Europe "there are not many terminals that are ready to accept liquefied gas, and not so many tankers to transport it."
Meanwhile, the agency reminds that the USA is increasing its market share in LNG supplies to the European Union. The share of LNG deliveries from the USA to the European Union in total imports of this fuel to the EU increased in the first quarter of 2017 to 6% (a tenfold increase compared to 2016 in the whole year). In the first quarter, the United States managed to become the sixth largest LNG supplier for the European Union.
Against this background, the “Nord Stream 2” theme is developing for the US and the EU. Recently, the European Commissioner for Energy and Climate, Miguel Arias Cañete, asked the EU Council for a mandate to negotiate with Russia on this “flow”. The continuation of negotiations is linked to the concern that Europe may eventually remain without gas. However, there is another motive: in Eastern European countries they fear that the Russian pipe will arrive in Germany, which will allow Berlin to dictate the will of the whole Old World. Therefore, the European Commissioner believes, the gas pipeline "deviates from the goals of the European Union." This pipeline "may have a negative impact on a number of transit routes leading to the European Union, including the one that goes through Ukraine," cites the opinion of the European Commissioner who spoke at the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg, "Russian newspaper".
Experts from Russia are ironic about the concern that Europe will eventually be left without gas at all. Director of the Energy Development Fund Sergey Pikin told Rossiyskaya Gazeta: “Other gas pipelines, which, by the way, are currently not operating at full capacity, have gone anywhere. So there are no problems with providing the Old World with Russian gas. ”
Causes of concern of the European Commissioner, perhaps, of a different kind.
“Firstly, the Nord Stream 2 project is moving further and further and is coming, let's say, to the point of no return,” the expert noted. - It is time to agree on the terms of delivery. The second point is the package of sanctions that was adopted, although it does not concern the gas pipeline directly, but contains options for its restriction. And this will be a direct damage for European concerns that work with Gazprom, and for equipment suppliers. This problem also needs to be addressed. ”
We should not forget about the political component of the criticism of the “stream”. Criticism of the gas pipeline, Pikin believes, has a political component in many respects, however, “a number of EU countries also have an economic background.” This is especially evident in the example of Poland: in case of the launch of the Nord Stream 2, transit can be reduced, and “the country will suffer financial losses”.
There were other messages on the topic of gas. It turns out that the European Commission intends to insist on the preservation by Gazprom of gas transit along the Ukrainian route. This was stated by the vice-president of the European Commission for the Energy Union Marosh Shefchovic. Moreover, such transit for the EU is a “priority”.
“The continuation of gas transit through Ukraine after 2020 is a priority for the EU,” shefchovic was quoted as saying. "Vedomosti".
The excitement of European officials on this issue is directly related to the friction between Kiev and Moscow. Gazprom and the Ukrainian side do not have an agreement to extend the gas transit contract, and the current agreement ends in 2019. By the same date, Gazprom intends to complete the said “Nord Stream 2”, as well as the “Turkish Stream”.
What do they think in Gazprom itself? Chairman of the Board Alexey Miller believes that the Ukrainian route can be used after the 2020 of the year, but deliveries along the route will be reduced at least 5 times. “By the beginning of 2020, the potential potential volume of transit through the territory of Ukraine in the central corridor will be about 15 billion cubic meters. meters of gas - from 10 billion to 15 billion cubic meters. m, "- noted earlier, Mr. Miller.
The European Union is not satisfied with this kind of explanation. Therefore, the European Commission is trying to get guarantees today that the transit through Ukraine after 2020 will be preserved, and at the same time is going to thoroughly study the possible impact of the new gas pipeline on other gas supply sources. The EU considers Ukraine to be a “zone of reliable transit,” said Miguel Arias Cañete, mentioned above, in the European Parliament.
The publication reminds that Poland is “traditionally tough” on the pipeline issue. “The construction of the Nord Stream was directed against Poland and the Baltic countries. "Nord Stream 2" is built in order to harm Ukraine. We must take these things seriously, even applying sanctions to the project, ”said Polish conservatives spokesman Marek Jurek.
Interestingly, Ukrainian politicians and experts, unlike Poles, have no doubt about the successful completion of the Nord Stream 2 project.
Andrei Kobolev, Chairman of the Board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, noted that the contract for the transit of Russian gas signed with Gazprom in 2019 will expire in 2009. According to Kobolev, his company cannot start a full-fledged modernization of the gas transport system, since it is not clear what will happen after 2019. “When we began work on the modernization of the gas transmission system, we had agreements on the supply of Siemens compressor systems. However, they subsequently refused such cooperation, since it threatened their contracts in the Russian Federation, ”Kobolev quotes. Strana.ua.
The chances of preventing the launch of a new “stream” are low, Ukrainian expert Dmitry Marunich said. “Entering the second branch of the“ Nord Stream ”will result in a big hole in the Ukrainian budget. If now Kiev receives about 2 billions of dollars for the transit of Russian gas, then after the launch of Nord Stream the amount will decrease to half a billion. But the chances of preventing the launch of new gas pipelines, to put it mildly, are low. Unlike European business interest in them, ”he says.
“I think the Nord Stream 2 really has a good chance of being implemented, despite all attempts to block it from the US,” said "Free Press" Igor Yushkov, leading expert of the National Energy Security Foundation, lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. - Project participants, including large European companies, are not going to leave this project after the introduction of additional US sanctions. The position of the Europeans here is this: yes, we will comply with the sanctions regime imposed on us by the Americans, but we will still find a way that will allow us to continue the implementation of the North Stream 2.
The expert clarified that most likely, now it is impossible to receive loans from American and European banks for this “flow”, although it was previously planned that such a loan would be about 70% of the cost of building a gas pipeline. As a result, companies invest their own funds. Europeans gave Gazprom a total of 1 billion 400 million dollars for the project; The Russian gas giant has made about the same. The rest of the project participants will either give out of their own funds, or find through “project export agencies”, as Russian Novatek does: it is also forbidden to take loans, but it raised European money through a “certain financial scheme”, thus bypassing sanctions.
Obviously, we note that Russia as a whole and Gazprom in particular are primarily concerned not with the preservation of the old transit through Ukraine, but with the fate of the Nord Stream 2. It is the decision on this project that will show who is the boss in Europe: the Europeans themselves, who want to buy gas from Moscow, or the Americans, who put the most direct pressure on the European Union, promoting their LNG and passing laws on sanctions.
By the way, the Europeans can take advantage of the American "pressure" on Russia - where the sanctions are, there is a search for possible discounts, benefits and special investment conditions.
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