Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.13
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Europe might not need as much gas as Russia is trying to ship through Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream, Bruce Pannier, US expert on Central Asia and energy issues, told Trend Oct.13.
Russia wants both pipelines: Gazprom and ultimately, the Kremlin need to boost revenues from gas sales, the expert said.
“The price of gas on world markets is less than half of what it was at the start of 2014,” he said. “Since prices are lower, Gazprom needs to sell more gas to bring in the amounts of money it was receiving just a few years ago.”
But European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said European gas needs in 2030 will be the same as the EU's needs right now, added Pannier.
He pointed out that the EU would prefer to diversify its sources of energy supplies and is already behind TANAP and TAP projects.
“So Russia has the gas, it will have the pipelines, but will Moscow have the customers in Europe?”
Turkish Stream project, which involves the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea, was frozen after the relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated in November 2015. In August 2016, the presidents of two countries Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to resume the implementation of the Turkish Stream project.
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