Issue 5: April 2011

A Snapshot Of Key Developments In The External Relations Of The Russian Gas Sector

On April 25 of this year Gazprom head, Alexei Miller, predicted that the price of gas sold to European gas consumers would increase to $500 per 1,000 cubic metres by the end of 2011. This suggests a price hike of almost 40 percent as currently the average European gas price is $350 per 1,000 cubic metres. While Gazprom officials do make public references to limitations to increases in the gas price, most such comments tend to refer to Russian domestic gas prices. READ MORE

• May 1, 2011

Ukraine will be able to get liquefied gas from Azerbaijan in three years.

• April 30, 2011

The two-day Global Forum on Sustainable Energy opened Thursday in Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna to discuss the potential of renewable energies and opportunities for greater energy policy between the Danube region and the Caucasus region.

• April 29, 2011

Issue 4: March 2011

A Snapshot Of Key Developments In The External Relations Of The Russian Gas Sector

The dispute between the Lithuanian Government and Gazprom continues. As we wrote in the preceding issue of the Gazprom Monitor, the dispute flared up after the Russian monopoly refused to give Vilnius the same gas price discount that it grants to the other Baltic States. Consequently, the Lithuanian side is forced to pay high gas prices. In response, Vilnius is trying to use the implementation of the Third Energy Package, in relation to the gas transport system of the country, as a lever of pressure against Gazprom. In the end this may bring about both a rupture in the agreement on the privatisation of Lietuvos dujos (37 percent of which belongs to Gazprom) and the separation of control over gas transmission pipelines from companies which own them. READ MORE

• April 29, 2011

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, called yesterday for new world rules to be drawn up on safety at nuclear plants.

• April 27, 2011

As the world marks 25th year of the world’s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine, the anniversary has gained an eerily contemporary resonance after the earthquake in Japan which damages reactors at the Fukushima power plant and prompts leaks of radiation

• April 26, 2011

A weird anti-Lithuanian campaign in Poland as well as the ongoing construction of experimental Russian nuclear plants, which are described as unsafe by environmentalists, in Russia’s Kaliningrad and Belarus is forcing Vilnius to look at what’s going on to its south, although Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, visiting Norway on April 5-6, said that her country’s priority is cooperation with the Nordic countries.

• April 25, 2011

By Hrvoje Ćiković, Expert on EU Integration, Energy Security and New Diplomacy

In recent years energy security has become not only a political buzzword but a fundamental concept in (re)shaping relations between governments within the framework of a newly emerging global energy order. Furthermore, factors such as the growing asymmetrical dependence of energy consuming states on producing states, the delicate question of transport (particularly the definition of future pipeline routes), changing trends of economic development, and geopolitical tensions tend to distort established negotiating positions and shift the balance of global power relations. In such a complicated context, it is easy to overlook developments in countries such as Poland which are not in the international spotlight. As Poland has shown resilience in avoiding recession and is becoming an important player in the international arena, it may be interesting to examine the actual dynamics and the core challenges of the country’s energy sector. READ MORE

• April 25, 2011