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  Natural Gas for the EU: Gazprom Warns Europe not to Interfere

Natural Gas for the EU Gazprom Warns Europe not to Interfere

The Russian gas giant Gazprom on Thursday warned Europe not to interfere with its expansion plans. Otherwise, Asia may suddenly become a higher priority than the EU.

The Russian gas giant Gazprom on Tuesday issued a sharp warning to Europe not to interfere in its efforts to expand on the continent. At a meeting with EU ambassadors in Russia, Alexei Miller, CEO of the state-controlled monopoly, cautioned that a number of markets exist for Russian natural gas.

"It must be noted that attempts to limit the activities of Gazprom on the European market and politicize the question of gas supplies, which are in reality purely economic, will not lead to positive results," Miller said. "It cannot be forgotten that we are actively developing new markets such as America and China."

Miller's warning was apparently in response to a British move to make it more difficult for Gazprom to go ahead with the acquisition of Centrica PLC, a move which has been rumoured for months. Gazprom's declared aim is to control 20 percent of British gas supplies by 2015. But the remarks sparked concerns that Gazprom may leverage its position as a major supplier of gas to the EU for political aims. Fully 25 percent of European gas comes from Russia.

Miller's statement "gives grounds to our concerns on the growing foreign dependency of European energy supply and […] our need to diversify both the origin of our supplies and our supply routes," said Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, the spokesman for EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, according to Reuters.

The chief executive of Italian energy supplier ENI, Paolo Scaroni, told the European Parliament that fierce competition over dwindling gas supplies would likely characterize relations between Europe and other parts of the world in the future. Scaroni warned that "gas can be a formidable weapon when it comes to foreign policy."

The tone struck by Miller on Thursday was in marked contrast to the reassuring language he used when in China last month, says the AP. There, he maintained that Europe would remain Gazprom's priority but would work toward fulfilling a pledge made by Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply 80 billion cubic meters of gas per year to China. But on Thursday he seemed to hint that Gazprom may re-think its strategy.

"We work according to long-term contracts," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprianov told the AP. "We have many possibilities and we're on the border where we have to decide how we work in the future. (European governments) have to decide whether they want to limit our participation or increase it."

Earlier this year, a dispute between Moscow and Kiev led to Gazprom interrupting the supply of gas to Ukraine for several days, plunging households across the country into icy coldness. The event highlighted the economic and political power that the Russian natural gas monopolist wields. Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder recently took a post on the supervisory board of a new company -- made up of Gazprom and two German companies -- which plans to build a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea.

mmh/AP/Reuters