“Together, South and North Stream will bring a new Europe order”
Published: 14 November, 2009, 20:26
Edited: 16 November, 2009, 03:20
TAGS: Natural resources, Oil, Putin, Russia, Politics, Europe, Russia and the global economy, Big deal, Economy, Gas
On Saturday Russia signed a final agreement with Slovenia paving the way for the South Stream gas pipeline project. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says all European partners involved are now fully on board.
According to the arrangement, Russian natural gas will be pumped through Slovenia to Northern Italy starting in 2015. It will eventually mean an uninterrupted fuel flow to Europe.
The signing of the treaty follows the sealing of the deals for the similar Nord Stream project. Both will avoid transit countries like Ukraine, which have disrupted winter gas supplies in recent years.
Analyst Vladimir Feygin from Institute for Energy and Finance in Moscow believes that both projects together will drastically change the energy security situation in Europe.
“The difference which will be made by the South Stream and Nord Stream is huge, because the total capacity of these both lines is approximately the same volume which is now going through Ukraine," Feygin told RT. "Of ÑÂourse, the total supply of Russian gas will increase, but nevertheless, it will be a huge change. It will be a totally different picture from the point of view of European consumers.”
14.11.2009, 19:00
“The development of trade will end protectionism”Yury Shcherbanin, an analyst from the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow, thinks that the worst of the crisis is behind, so the growth of production and trade will normalize the global market situation. |
14.11.2009, 22:15
8 comments
"Russian food and energy will save the world"William Wilson, an economist from the Vanguard investment firm in London, told RT about Russia’s impact on the global economy. |
If Russia and EU countries can do this right, there will be a half-dozen transit countries through which Russian gas goes to European customers. That way no single country can hold Russia and the EU hostage, like Ukraine did last January. Eventually we will have to develop alternate sources for energy, but in the meantime, Nordstream and Southstream will ease some bottlenecks.
(1) The Baltic pipeline is not a connection between Russia and Europe so much as a connection between Russia and Germany. Such a connection is very heavily laden with historical baggage which only half the cast (Germany) has repudiated. A new “special relationship” between Russia and Germany appears understandably sinister to many of the countries who suffered so grievously under the last one. (2) Russia has a record of using trade not simply as a commercial venture, but also as an instrument of exerting political pressure in support of foreign policy goals that originate in aspects of unreconstructed Soviet-era chauvinism. Previously Russia’s ability to punish specific neighbours through cutting off gas supplies was limited by the fact that this also cut off supplies from other customers down the line, but now this constraint will be much reduced. This worries countries that were made dependent on Russian energy by Soviet coercion, and that now find themselves at the mercy of geopolitical whims of a not altogether reconstructed Russia. (3) The fact that a land-based pipeline would be considerably cheaper both to construct and to maintain clearly sends the message that Russia chose the sea route with not just normal commercial factors in mind. (4) The maintenance of a sea-bed pipeline could be used to justify a new level of Russian military presence in the Baltic, which again causes justifiable consternation to those nearby nations that have not yet recovered from Russia’s previous unacknowledged and unapologised-for Soviet-era military aggression against them. (5) The Baltic seabed holds large volumes of scuttled WW2 weaponry and sunk cargoes, including poison agents, and given the almost inland sea nature of the Baltic, its natural water exchange is a very slow process, taking years for a natural cycle to be completed. There has been minimal environmental investigation of the risks posed by disturbing such lethal deposits.
Baltic states can as well get a gas from Italy, thus avoiding any potential threats from being directly politically restricted either by Germany, or by Russia. I am sure that dear old Silvio Berlusconi would miss a chance to resell the Russian South Stream gas to all those who didn't want to get it directly from Russia. Though, that is obviously not the cheapest way to get the gas, but is surely the most safe one for Balts given their fears stemming from previous historical epochs. As for Russia and Germany, it is their natural right to pursue mutual exchange of goods. However, this time they gallantly avoided to include any mediators, whose possible feelings of potential threats was the subject of a major concern of these two nations, and which they accordingly have kindly wanted to reduce to an acceptable level. That is nothing but an exceptional example of affability in conducting international policy. I would exclaim a huge "Bravo" for both Germany and Russia!!!