World's Energy

11–17–2008 – Kommersant – The European Commission is proposing to create the Caspian Development Corp., which would buy natural gas in Central Asia and coordinate investment in oil and gas production and transport in the region. The measure is part of a package of measures to ensure European energy security through 2050. Natural gas would move across the Caspian Sea and bypass Russia, destroying Gazprom’s monopoly on gas supplies from Central Asia. Even Germany, Gazprom’s closest ally in Europe, supported the measure. The corporation will invest in infrastructure in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and in the Transcaspian Pipeline. The ultimate goal of the project is to delivery 60-120 billion cu. m. of gas to the European Union through southern routes, including the Nabucco and Trans-Saharan pipelines as well, and reducing dependence on Russian gas supplies. The EU consumes 500 billion cu. m. of natural gas per year. Sixty-one percent of that gas is imported, and that figure is expected to increase to 84 percent by 2030. Russian gas now makes up 42 percent of European imports. The cost of imported energy is about €700 per European citizen. EU antimonopoly bodies will examine the project now and the EC will invite ministerial representatives of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to discuss the timing of agreements and a report will be made to the European Parliament in the middle of next year. Observers point out that Russia’s and Iran’s approval will be needed for the pipeline (which they are opposed to) and it is unclear where the gas to fill it will come from, since Turkmenistan has expressed its willingness to increase gas exports only by 10 billion cu. m. per year.