Latest Articles about Energy
The Role of Russian Organized Crime in the Gas War of January 2009
On January 20 Alexei Miller, the CEO of Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly, Gazprom, made an amazing confession. He told Interfax that in late December 2008, when negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on a new gas supply contract broke down, the party largely responsible for this... MORE
Is the Russian-Led Consortium Trying to Overcharge Turkey for Its First Nuclear Power Plant?
Turkey is continuing to debate the construction of its first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, Mersin. After the tender was launched in March 2008, 13 foreign and local companies purchased documents. All but one, however, failed to submit an offer, because they did not have... MORE
Russia Strengthening Its Monopoly on Uzbek Gas
On January 23 in Tashkent, Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan firmed up bilateral agreements that strengthen Russia’s monopoly on Uzbek exports of natural gas. Their quid-pro-quo involves a steep increase in Gazprom’s purchase price for Uzbek gas in return for... MORE
Russia’s Eastern Siberian Oil Pipeline Becomes More Expensive
Russian officials have insisted that the construction of the Eastern Siberia Pacific Oil Pipeline (ESPO) remains on track despite growing costs, crisis-related concerns, and doubts about the project's economic viability amid falling crude prices. Russia's pipeline monopoly Transneft conceded that the ESPO project faced significant... MORE
Turkey Retracts Warning to Nabucco and the EU
On January 19 in Brussels, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “reconsider” his country’s participation in the Nabucco gas transit pipeline project unless the European Union promptly opened negotiations on the energy chapter in Turkey’s EU accession process (see EDM, January 20). The... MORE
Recent Initiatives to Advance the Nabucco Project
While the Nabucco pipeline remains clearly the centerpiece of the Southern Corridor project, Nabucco alone—even in its second, full-capacity phase—would be far from sufficient to cover the rise in European demand for non-Russian gas in the next decade. A fully-developed Southern Corridor could achieve the... MORE
Hungary to Host Nabucco Summit in a Reshaped Strategic Context
Hungary is hosting a high-level meeting of active and potential participants in the Nabucco gas transport project on January 26 and 27. Top officials of supplier, transit, and consumer countries; international financial institutions; the European Union; and the United States are expected to participate (MTI,... MORE
European Energy Security and Nabucco Occupy a Central Place in Erdogan’s Brussels Trip
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Brussels on January 18 and 19 to discuss Turkish-European relations. The trip, the first of its kind since 2004, comes against the background of criticism that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has abandoned its commitment to EU... MORE
The 18-Day Gas War – Why was it fought? Who Won?
A preliminary, and possibly premature, report of the 18-day Russian-Ukrainian “Gas War” of January 2009 might read as follows:This war should never have taken place. The conflict had little to do with “commercial disagreements” between Gazprom and Naftohaz Ukrainy—these were resolved by the “Memorandum of... MORE
Commentary: The Russia-Ukraine Gas Crisis: The Big Picture
By now it should be clear that there is no quick fix for the current Europe-wide energy debacle caused by the vicious Russian-Ukrainian spat. Behind the seemingly intractable dispute over debts, gas pricing, and terms of transit lies a complex post-imperial situation in which Russia... MORE