In the EU-Russia summit Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Nordstream and Southstream pipelines's exclusion from the EU Third Energy Package. The European Commission's President Jose Manuel Barroso declared Brussels and Moscow have two opposite positions in gas deals.
Russia and Europe have two different positions in energy policy, and it has been evident after last 12/21 EU-Russia Summit.
As Reuters reported, the European Commission's President Jose Manuel Barroso told the EU and Russia have two radically different position about Europe's energy security.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin argued the EU law on energy is uncivilized. In particular, as EUObserver reported, Putin criticized the Third Energy Package: a EU law to forbid both gas sell and gas transportation's control to energy monopolies in the EU gas market.
Putin's pretense aimed to exclude Nordstream and Southstream pipelines, which are controlled by Russian national gas major Gazprom, and are planed to increase Europe gas dependence on Russia, from the Third Energy Package's jurisdiction.
Nordstream has been realized on February 2012 to deliver 55 bcd of Russian gas from Russia to Germany, bypassing EU countries as Poland and the Baltic States.
Southstream is a project, whose realization started last 12/7, planed to carry 63 bcd of Russian gas to Austria via the Black Sea seabed, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy.
In contemporary with the EU-Russia summit, Gazprom representatives met with Southstream's transit states in order to establish the date of Southstream realization's beginning in Europe.
According to Natural Gas Europe, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia have started the Study of Feasibility, whereas Bulgaria fixed Southstream realization's start in June 2012.
Bulgaria has been also important for EU counteroffensive to Russia's gas policy. Sofia has given a green light to the realization of Nabucco: a pipeline planed by the European Commission to carry 30 bcd of Azerbaijani gas directly to Europe, in order to decrease EU energy dependence on Russia.
Also Shakh Deniz gas field consortium - the source of Nabucco's gas which is controlled by Azerbaijani concern Socar, Norwegian Statoil, British BP, French energy company Total, Turkish TPAO and Italian-Russian LukAgip - declared the intention to by the 50% of Nabucco's stakes.
Shakh Deniz gas field consortium decision will enforce Nabucco's realization. A similar step the Azerbaijani gas field consortium made also ith the Trans Adriatic Pipeline - TAP: another project planed to carry 21 bcd of Azerbaijani gas to Italy from the border between Turkey and Greece via Albania.
Matteo Cazzulani
