Relief in Europe as Russia promises to resume gas supply

Russia’s supply of gas to the Ukraine and much of Europe came to an abrupt halt a week ago with far-reaching consequences on the human, economic and political front. Russia’s assurances that gas will be ‘switched on’ will bring a collective sigh of relief.

The issue after all these days has become less about the claims and counter-claims made between Russia and the Ukraine and more about Europe’s fuel security in the face of it’s dependence to such a large degree on the Russian supply.

Member states of the EU rely on Russia for up to 20 per cent of their gas supply needs. It is claimed that the two disputing countries have been holding the European Union to ransom during this dispute.

“It is unbearable that Russia and Ukraine carry out their conflict in the middle of a grim cold winter on Europe’s back,” said Peter Hintze from the German economics ministry.

The European Commission is pushing for more competition in the gas supply market. It is claimed that more competition will mean more investment in the necessary infrastructure to make accessible gas sources which would otherwise remain inaccessible. Reliance on one or a few suppliers would be a thing of the past. An example being the Nabucco pipeline which will transport gas from Turkey to Austria.

Gas storage, though imperative, does not solve the big problem of access to gas from the supply country through the transit country.

“Therefore, the EU will speed up work on various energy security initiatives. Particular emphasis will be put on priority interconnections both within the EU and with supplier and transit countries, increased transparency, and the developing of crisis mechanisms to tackle temporary supply disruptions,” read a statement from the Czech government, now in EU leadership.

By heather saunders posted January 12, 2009 12:18 PM with 464 views