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Russia suggests an EU Gasplan (a)
The new energy
initiative shows that Russia and the European Union hold absolutely
opposite views on the future of the European gas market. While the
EU promotes liberalization and free competition, Gazprom still wants
to control the whole chain, from the gas well in West Siberia to the
burner tip of the European consumer. Russia’s demand for
“non-discriminatory investment promotion and protection, including
new investments into all energy chain links” contradicts the EU Gas
Directive that claims that the “unbundling of supply from
transmission activities of integrated companies will serve to
eliminate the conflict of interests.”
Russia’s proposal adds a
new element to the Energy Doctrine proposed by Vladimir Putin three
years ago in his letter to the Wall
Street Journal. Putin advocated a “market” without competition
between energy producers, and with high, regulated prices that never
go down. The new document says the “market” should also have
predictable demand. From the Russian point of view, an EU Central
Gas Planning Committee (EU GasPlan) would be the best trading
partner for Gazprom in Europe.
Russia is the country to
be affected the most by its own energy transit concept. Russia is
the only country in Europe and the CIS that forbids international
transit of natural gas. Gazprom buys all foreign gas that gets onto
the Russian territory, and resells it on its own terms. The new
energy transit rules suggested by Russia would give Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan direct access to the European gas markets.
Moreover, the Central Asian gas exporters would be able to monitor
the transit flows in Russia, and have firsthand knowledge about the
availability of spare capacity in Gazprom’s pipelines.
There is something
Orwellian in Russia’s amendments to or replacement of the Energy
Charter Treaty, which Russia has never ratified. Russia’s attitude
toward the international transit of natural gas across its territory
is the same as Joseph Stalin’s feelings about the 1929 Geneva
Convention on prisoners of war, which the Soviet Union refused to
join. As a matter of fact, Comrade Stalin never suggested amendments
to the Geneva Convention .
Mikhail
Korchemkin
May 1, 2009
ADDENDUM
OF MAY 6, 2009
France
wants central gas buying body for Europe
(a) The text is written for
RUSSIA PROFILE.ORG
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