![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/EDM_draft_banner2.jpg)
Latest articles from Vladimir Socor
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/OPAL_pipeline_Credit_Gasrechner.ws_.jpg)
Moscow and European Commission Negotiate Over OPAL Gas Pipeline
The European Union–Russia biannual summit, postponed from December 2013 and held on January 28, 2014, and reduced to three hours instead of the customary one and a half or two days, perforce omitted energy from its agenda. The severely abbreviated summit in Brussels had to... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/First_joint_welded_on_South_Stream_at_a_ceremony_in_Bulgaria_Credit_Gazprom.jpg)
Gazprom Intent on Rolling Back EU’s Energy Market Legislation
With the backing of the Kremlin, and some help from interested European parties, Gazprom is intent on rolling back the European Union’s Third Energy Legislation Package on EU territory. The Russian government and Gazprom have signed inter-governmental and corporate agreements to build sections of the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Shah_Deniz_-_EDM_January_29__2014.jpg)
Beyond Shah Deniz: Azerbaijan’s Next-Generation Gas
Azerbaijan is prepared to supply European Union countries with natural gas for decades to come and in growing volumes. The giant Shah Deniz field, where the producers’ consortium has just approved Phase Two of development (see EDM, January 14), is planned to start commercial production... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/SOCAR_pipelines_-_EDM_January_28__2014.jpeg)
Azerbaijan Considers Long-Term Strategy on Natural Gas Exports
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the start-up of the largest European energy infrastructure project, involving: Shah Deniz Phase Two of field development and three dedicated pipelines to connect that Azerbaijani gas field with European Union territory. The... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Harald_Schwager__Chairman_of_the_Board_of_Wintershall__at_Gazprom_Headquarter_Credit_Gazpromcom.jpg)
Gazprom Advances in Germany
Russian Gazprom is taking over most of the core business of its German partner, Wintershall, in the natural gas trade and storage business. The two companies had conducted that business through the Wintershall-Gazprom joint venture, WINGAS, from 1993 to date. Gazprom is now turning WINGAS... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Gazprom_Export_CEO_Aleksandr_Medvedev_-_EDM_January_17__2014.jpg)
Gazprom Takes Over Wintershall’s Core German Business
On January 13, Gazprom Vice-President and Gazprom Export CEO Aleksandr Medvedev dropped by an annual meeting of Wintershall’s staff, at company headquarters in Kassel. It was, in this case, the guest who did the welcoming: Medvedev welcomed WINGAS, the Wintershall-Gazprom joint venture, to “become a... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ilham_Aliyev_and_Recep_Tayyip_Erdogan__TANAP_-_EDM_January_15__2014.jpg)
SCP, TANAP, TAP: Segments of the Southern Gas Corridor to Europe
Full-scale investment approved at Shah Deniz, and supply contracts secured in Europe, make it possible for pipeline construction to proceed along the 3,500-kilometer Southern Gas Corridor, from Azerbaijan to European Union territory in Italy. The cumulative investments are estimated at $25 billion in the offshore... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Shah_Deniz_Platform_-_EDM_January_14__2014.png)
Shah Deniz Investment Decision Validates Commercial Agreements, Triggers Construction Contracts
The Shah Deniz gas producers’ consortium has approved the final investment decision (FID) on December 17, 2013, launching Phase Two of production at the project in Azerbaijan (see accompanying article). This decision has two immediate consequences, both of them pre-programmed. It validates the long-term gas... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Shah_Deniz_Platform_Baku_-_EDM_January_14__2014.jpg)
Shah Deniz Gas Consortium in Azerbaijan Approves Final Investment Decision
On December 17, 2013, in Baku, the Shah Deniz natural gas producers’ consortium approved the Final Investment Decision (FID) to start Phase Two of production. The investment commitment is valued at $25 billion for field development, separately from the estimated $20 billion for the construction... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Constitutional_Court_of_Moldova_-_EDM_January_13__2014.jpg)
Language Politics, Party Politics, and Constitutional Court Politics in Moldova
Denominating the Republic of Moldova’s indigenous ethnicity and the state language as Moldovan or Romanian is a salient, continuous, and often emotional controversy in Moldova. This issue is far more political than philological. And it is often misperceived as involving a choice between Moldovan statehood... MORE