European Union, Russia and Ukraine to meet again on the “gas” issue on May 30 in Berlin

Sabine Berger, spokesperson of Guenther Oettinger, European Commissioner on energy, told reporters on Thursday, 29 May 2014, that the next round of talks between the Ministers of Energy of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Ukraine and the EU on natural gas supplies from the Russian Federation would be held on Friday, May 30 in Berlin.

Gyuneter Ettinger said the other day that Ukraine was ready to pay for the Russian gas and was able to do it. The European Commissioner also noted that within the gas talks there should not be touched upon the issue of joining of the peninsula of Crimea to Russia.

Putin instructed to study the prospects of gas cooperation between Russia and Kiev

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in case of receiving payments from Ukraine, to consider what Russia is ready to do  to continue gas cooperation with Kiev.

“If the conditions on which you negotiate with partners are fulfilled, if payments begin to come in those volumes, which you agreed on, then the Russian government must decide what it is willing to do for further cooperation in the gas sector with partners in Ukraine. I ask the Prime Minister to take appropriate actions, “- said Putin at a meeting with members of the government.

Medvedev demands from Ukraine to repay debts for Russian gas

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev requires Ukraine to repay the debt for the supplied gas immediately. According to him, Ukraine should seek funds to pay for the Russian gas, otherwise the cooperation between the countries will not be able to continue.

Medvedev also said that he decided to cancel the zero duty on gas for Ukraine.

On April, 3 Medvedev held a meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, during which the head of the Russian energy giant revealed that the total amount of the debt exceeded 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.

 

“Gazprom” Enters the Gaza Strip

Russian “Gazprom” is considering the possibility to develop the fields in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip and has plans to develop an oil field in the West Bank of the Jordan River in the suburb of Ramallah.

This is stated in the documents prepared for the upcoming meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, RIA Novosti reported.

The documents note that the estimated reserves in the Gaza Strip are 30 billion cubic meters, the project costs about a billion dollars. There are no estimates of oil reserves in the vicinity of the Jordan River.

Russia Provided for Measures to Protect the Arctic Environment in Connection with the Increase in Oil and Gas Production

Russia has provided a set of measures to neutralize the threat of marine pollution in the Arctic in connection with the increase in oil and gas production, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview to “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”.

Patrushev said that work on the development of the Arctic and national security in this region was initiated by the Security Council in 2008. Patrushev said that Russian President approved the Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic up to 2020 and beyond that, the Development Strategy for the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.

Concerning national security challenges in the development of hydrocarbon resources, Patrushev said that Russia has enough modern and advanced technology for the production of offshore hydrocarbons.

South Stream to Improve International Energy Security – Putin

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin sent a greeting to participants and guests of the official ceremony, devoted to beginning of construction of a South Stream part in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, where he stressed construction of the gas pipeline would make a big input in improvement of international energy security, the Kremlin’s press service said on Sunday.

 “It is an important event not only for Serbia and the Balkan Peninsula countries, but for the entire European continent,” the president’s greeting read.

“South Stream will unite along the bottom of the Black Sea Russia’s biggest natural gas deposits with major markets in south-eastern Europe,” Putin said. “It will assure reliable supplies of the fuel to the European consumers without risks related to transit. It will make a big input in improvement of the international energy security.”

Putin Confirmed Plans to Build a Section of the “South Stream” in Turkey in 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed plans to start construction of the offshore section of the “South Stream” pipeline in the economic zone of Turkey in 2014. At the meeting of the Russian-Turkish high level Cooperation Council the Russian leader noted that the interaction between the two countries in the energy sector reached a truly strategic level.

As it was previously reported, in July, the operator of the project “South Stream”, the company South Stream Transport, had published a report on the assessment of the environmental impact in the exclusive economic zone of Turkey in the Black Sea. The report says that the construction of an offshore section of the “South Stream” gas pipeline would have no significant impact on the environment.

“Gazprom” and Serbia to Build a Branch from the “South Stream” in Kosovo

Russian gas company “Gazprom” and the Serbian government agreed on the possibility of building a branch from the pipeline ” South Stream” for gas transportation in Kosovo and Metohija . The decision was taken at a meeting of the head of “Gazprom” Alexey Miller and Prime Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic.

The parties also agreed on the possibility of building another two branches of the “South Stream ” – to Macedonia and the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The construction of branches is supposed to ensure the stability of gas supply in the region.

It is expected that construction of the Serbian part of the “South Stream”, the length of which is 450 kilometers, will begin on November, 24. A corresponding agreement was also reached at the meeting between Miller and Dacic. According to the Serbian prime minister, “South Stream” is one of the biggest investments in Serbia for several decades.

Medvedev Calls for Soonest Solution to Russian Gas Pricing Problem for China

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes it is of huge importance to resolve as soon as possible the problem of the Russian gas export price for China.

“Now we are completing to adjust the gas export pricing formula,” Medvedev told an on-line conference with Chinese Internet users on Tuesday. “It is time to finalize the issue and to launch gas supplies to China,” he added.

In general, Medvedev highly assessed energy cooperation with China. “This is a very important sphere of our cooperation,” he said, adding that this kind of interaction had entered a qualitatively new level.

The prime minister said that the two countries actively developed energy interaction not only in the sphere of hydrocarbons, but also in the atomic energy area.

Rosneft Cedes Fields to China

Rosneft will cede a share of its oil riches to China under a memorandum signed Friday to jointly develop East Siberia deposits, in the first such deal between China’s largest oil company and Russia. The world’s top oil producer, Russia has previously preferred to sign long-term supply deals backed by loans with China, the biggest oil importer.

The state-owned company said it signed a memorandum with China National Petroleum Corp, or CNPC, to jointly tap oil reserves. These include the Srednebotuobinsk field previously owned by oil producer Taas-Yuryakh, which Rosneft recently took over. Rosneft will have a controlling stake of 51 percent in the future joint venture, while CNPC will own 49 percent.

Rosneft has a similar deal with another Chinese company, Sinopec, which is producing oil just west of the Urals in the Republic of Udmurtia.

Rosneft, which in March acquired British-Russian oil firm TNK-BP for $55 billion, also needs to increase its upstream base to honor a pledge to increase sales to China.