On October 16 in Moscow, Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, witnessed the signing of an agreement whereby Russia’s Rosneft takes over Petroleos de Venezuela’s (PDVSA) massive refining capacities in Germany. With this, Rosneft is acquiring 10 percent of the total... MORE

The Ukrainian Constitutional Court has outlawed the constitutional reform of 2004-2006. This means that Ukraine is returning to the mixed system which existed under the then President, Leonid Kuchma, from 1996-2004, where the president appoints the prime minister and the cabinet reports to the president... MORE

On October 14, Hungary and Romania inaugurated a gas pipeline connecting the two countries’ transmission systems. The Szeged (Hungary) – Arad (Romania) pipeline is the first in a series of interconnector projects supported by the EU in Central and Southeastern Europe. The EU’s Energy Commissioner,... MORE

On October 13 in Bucharest, Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller held talks with Prime Minister Emil Boc, Economics Minister Ion Ariton, and other officials, on Romania’s possible participation in Gazprom projects. Adriean Videanu, economics minister until six weeks ago and (unusually in Romania) an active proponent... MORE

Three recent episodes reflect the degree to which the rule of law in Ukraine is under pressure from its already weak position after five years of instability under former President Viktor Yushchenko. This growing pressure on the rule of law comes after President Viktor Yanukovych... MORE

Croatia expects to join the European Union as a full member by 2012 or 2013, but has yet to adapt its energy market to EU norms, particularly in the gas sector. That sector continues to be handicapped in Croatia by elements from a socialist legacy.... MORE

NATO officials have recently once again attempted to bridge differences with Russia in the run-up to the November NATO summit in Lisbon. President, Dmitry Medvedev, was invited to Lisbon for a parallel NATO-Russian Council summit. NATO’s Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during an interview to Interfax... MORE

Moscow is exploiting a number of Polish vulnerabilities of both the objective and the subjective variety, all short-term, in the negotiations on a new supply agreement. The proposed draft would perpetuate those vulnerabilities, and cause Polish long-term dependence on Gazprom. For the time being, Poland... MORE

In the last couple of years, Russia has engaged in a rapprochement policy with Poland preceding the death of Poland’s President, Lech Kaczynski and many leading members of the government in a fatal air crash on April 10, outside Smolensk,. However, this policy certainly received... MORE

Poland consumes some 14.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually (unaffected by the economic recession elsewhere). The country produces some 4.3 bcm per year internally while importing the remainder from Gazprom (Bloomberg, September 18). Most of Gazprom’s deliveries enter Poland through the Yamal-Europe pipeline,... MORE