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Polski | English

Russia in Europe

Events

2008

Russian gas in Europe

Warsaw, June 26th 2008

Russian gas is of unique importance to Europe for two main reasons. Firstly, it plays a significant and sometimes key role in the energy balance, in almost all of the EU countries. Today’s Russia is the biggest gas supplier and remains the owner of the largest gas reserves in the whole World, which makes Russian gas crucial for the whole European Community. The second reason results from the first one: the question of gas strongly influences Russian-European relations. The fast growth of gas consumption, which is predicted for the next decades, and the constant reduction of gas extraction in the EU member states, will force major increase in gas imports. Therefore, the role of Russian gas for Europe is going to grow.

During the conference experts on energy issues from Russia and EU discussed the problems related to energy export. The panellists included: Sławomir Dębski (Polish Institute of International Affairs), Agata Łoskot-Strachota (Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw), Jakub Godzimirski (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), Roland Götz (German Institute for International and Security Affairs), Samuel Greene (Carnegie Moscow Center), Tatiana Mitrova (Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Jens Müller (Nord Stream AG), Andris Spruds (Latvian Institute of International Affairs), Frank Umbach (The German Council on Foreign Relations), Piotr Woźniak (former Minister of Economy), Ernest Wyciszkiewicz (Polish Institute of International Affairs) and Jean-Arnold Vinois (European Commission).

The discussion focused on three main issues:

• the amount of Russian gas extraction and export possibilities in the context of growing gas consumption on Russian domestic market. Future Russian gas transfer capacity and the likelihood of potential depletion of Russian energy resources have been discussed for several years by the experts from the EU and Russia. While the pessimists predict that the deficiencies of Russian gas might emerge already in 2010 or in the next decade, the optimists assure that this will not be the case.
• the question what is the ruling principle for the construction of new and use of old pipelines for transfer of Russian gas to the EU? Economy or politics? And which of these two is more important? These questions are of prime import for discussing the projects of Gazprom and its European partners: North and South Stream, as well as for the plans of exploiting current gas pipelines running through Ukraine and Belarus.
• the issue of Gazprom’s and Russian capital companies’ presence on the EU domestic market. The problem concerns not only gas supplies, but also gas transport and distribution. Gazprom aims to become an important player in gas transport and distribution on the internal EU market. Its growing influence might result in Gazprom’s monopoly in Europe both in economic and political terms, since the concern remains under the control of Russian state.

Conference program (English)

Panellists Presentations (English)

Presentation of Agata Łoskot-Strachota [PDF 1 162 KB]

Presentation of Jakub Godzimirski [PDF 863 KB]

Presentation of Jean-Arnold Vinois [PDF 886 KB]

Presentation of Jens Müller [PDF 863 KB]

Presentation of Roland Götz I [PDF 90 KB]

Presentation of Roland Götz II [PDF 589 KB]

Presentation of Tatiana Mitrova [PDF 410 KB]

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