On April 4, the Bulgarian parliament passed on a first reading amendments to the energy law that would allow the Russian-led South Stream gas pipeline project to bypass European Union legislation. Disregarding a strong warning by the EU Commission, Bulgarian lawmakers voted to designate one... MORE

As the West prepares economic sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine, the head of the government-owned State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) nuclear complex, Sergei Kirienko, said that Russia’s nuclear industry contracts with other countries could be affected, observing, “Considering an array of comments... MORE

Ukraine’s newly appointed energy minister, Yury Prodan, is scheduled to discuss in Brussels on March 19 the resumption of natural gas imports from the European Union, as well as the launch of reverse gas flows from Slovakia (https://economics.unian.net/energetics/893257-prodan-19-marta-poedet-v-bryussel-govorit-o-reverse-gaza.html). The decision is predicated on the expectation... MORE

The crisis in Ukraine has resonated throughout Southeast Europe, evoking memories of the violent break-up of Yugoslavia and worries of fresh interruptions in Russian energy supplies. As the European Union and the United States condemn Russia for its military takeover of Crimea and prepare to... MORE

On February 26, Pakistani officials announced a step forward in China’s plans to construct a transportation corridor through Kashmir to the Pakistani port of Gwadar. Gwadar Port Authority chairman Dostain Khan Jamaldini briefed the Senate’s Ports and Shipping committee after attending the second meeting of... MORE

On February 5, Gazprom refloated the option of expanding the Nord Stream pipeline by adding a third and possibly a fourth line to the existing two. A third and a fourth line would reach beyond the Baltic Sea to countries on the North Sea. Gazprom... MORE

Russian natural gas exports to Germany grew to 40.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, a hefty increase over the preceding year’s 33.2 bcm, according to Gazprom’s sales report for 2013 (Interfax, January 16, 2014).A growing share of that increasing volume enters Germany through the... MORE

Hungary’s Fidesz-led government under Viktor Orban, conservative and Europe-oriented in a traditionalist sense, and strongly anti-communist ever since Fidesz’s formative years, has turned toward Russia for solutions to some of Hungary’s main economic problems, especially in the energy sector. This government seems convinced, for example,... MORE

On February 6, Hungary’s parliament approved the Russian-Hungarian agreement for cooperation on nuclear energy. Under the agreement, Rosatom shall build two nuclear power blocs in Hungary, financed by Russian state credit. Hungary’s conservative government, led by the Fidesz party and enjoying a parliamentary supermajority (slightly... MORE

Gazelle, the new gas transit pipeline in the Czech Republic, completed in 2013, is conceived to function as a prolongation of the Gazprom-controlled Nord Stream and OPAL pipelines into continental Europe; albeit free of Gazprom’s control on the Czech Republic’s territory.The Gazelle pipeline is dedicated... MORE