“RUSSIA CANNOT SUPPLY AS MUCH GAS AS THE EU NEEDS” - Christian Cleutinx, Director for Energy and Transport with European Commission, Coordinator of Russia-EU energy dialog

 

Caspian Energy (CE): Mr.Cleutinx, what do you think about the current state of energy dialog EU-Russia?

Christian Cleutinx, Director, General Directorate for Energy and Transport with European Commission, Coordinator of Russia-EU energy dialog: Everybody sees that the relations between Russian and the EU on energy are very good. The energy dialog has been extremely fruitful since 2000, but it does not mean that the EU intends to defend its interest like Russia. For it is very important for us to improve the climate of trust.

I think there is a lot of distrust, this is what is happening in Ukraine and Belarus. For this reason during the recent summit in Samara Mr. Putin and the EU agreed to implement the nearly warning energy mechanism to provide information exchange and coordinate all the decisions to be taken on both the sides.

 

CE: Do you thank that the EU’s gas market has been monopolized by Russia?

Christian Cleutinx: At the moment we do not see any evidence of that. We all know Russia has 30% of the world gas reserves and it is going to remain a very important partner. There is no doubt that the EU confronts export monopolies as they can to some extent make the situation more difficult but it is clear that Russia is going to remain an important energy partner.

Russia is a very important partner as far as energy is concerned and we are relying on its oil and gas.

CE: Which alternative sources of energy shall be top priority to the EU?

Christian Cleutinx: There is a significant increase in demand and it is clear that Russia will not deliver all the gas the EU is going to need, so the diversification of supplies is very important.

So we are looking in the direction of Central Asia. Azerbaijan with her development of Shah Deniz is also very important for the EU. From this field gas is expected to be taken for NABUCCO.

We are also going to address some other countries; in some cases it is very difficult but one should not forget that Iran sits on 15-16% of world’s gas reserves.

Thus, we have a lot of alternative variants in the Middle East. One of them is Central Asia that can supply gas for NABUCCO.

 

CE: What could EU offer to potential suppliers of gas for NABUCCO project?

Christian Cleutinx: First we need to have the gas. If you develop the pipeline project, it should be on the commercial basis. The EU never designs pipelines for political reasons. Therefore, NABUCCO pipeline project shall be economically justified. As soon as you have the gas the project can be considered completed. Accordingly, Nabucco is a commercial project.

 

CE: Does the EU support Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline project?

Christian Cleutinx: Burgas-Alexandroupolis in the context of energy dialog between the RF and the EU was defined as a project of common interest back in 2001.

So this is not new for us, it is a project that was supported from the very beginning just like Stockmann, Trans-Adria pipeline and so on. Thus, the EU has a big range of supported projects.

 

CE: What is the chance for European companies to partake in the Russian energy sector?

Christian Cleutinx: All factors of Russian energy sector, including capacity, interdependence and swaps, evidence that the European companies will be treated in Russia just like Russian companies in Europe.

Thank you for the interview.