by Marcus Papadopoulos
Russia last week took a decisive step forward to strengthen its position as Europe’s leading supplier of gas by concluding a transit agreement with Slovenia.
Following talks between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Slovenian counterpart Borus Pahor in Moscow, the two men announced that Slovenia has agreed to transport Russian gas to Italy, thereby finalising a plan by Moscow to transport its gas to southern Europe via the Black Sea.
The South Stream pipeline, as it is called, is scheduled to commence moving gas by 2015 and will deliver 63 billion cubic metres of gas a year.
Speaking to reporters after the signing of the agreement, Mr Putin said: “We have signed the deal with all the European partners needed for this project to be completed.”
Agreement on the South Stream project allows the Kremlin to supply the southern regions of the European Union with uninterrupted supplies of gas as the pipeline as it will bypass Ukraine, which in recent years has had numerous standoffs with Moscow over gas payments resulting in a reduction of gas supplies to European countries.
Slovenia’s decision to participate in the South Stream venture will add to growing concerns in Brussels that Russia is reinforcing its domination of energy supplies to Europe.
The EU’s dependency on Russian gas for its overall consumption stands at between 40 to 50 per cent and Brussels has frequently voiced misgivings that Moscow is using gas as a geostrategic and geopolitical weapon. Prime Minister Putin once said that his country’s gas supply industry constitutes “a powerful lever of economic and political influence in the world”.
EU policymakers are aware that within two years South Stream’s sister project, North Stream, will become operational and will see Russian gas supplied directly to Germany and other European countries via the Baltic Sea, once again bypassing Ukraine. This pipeline is set to open in 2011 and will deliver 55 billion cubic metres of gas annually.
With the conclusion of South Stream, the EU is faced with the prospect of Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled gas company, initiating a pincer movement against the 27-member bloc with the use of the North Stream and South Stream pipeline networks.
Unease will also be felt in Ukraine, which in time will not be able stand in the way of Russian gas deliveries to Europe and will therefore be at the mercy of the Kremlin.
