Latest Articles about Energy

Lithuania Chooses Hitachi-General Electric to Build Visaginas Nuclear Plant
Lithuania has chosen Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, a consortium of Japan’s Hitachi and General Electric of the US, as the strategic investor for the planned nuclear power plant in Lithuania. Runner-up in the bidding was another Japanese-US company, Toshiba-Westinghouse. This project should replace the Soviet-era nuclear... MORE

Gazprom Seeks Expansion Into Germany’s Electricity Sector
On July 14, Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller and RWE president Juergen Grossmann signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would, if implemented, open a new stage of Gazprom’s expansion into Germany and Europe (Interfax, DPA, Gazprom and RWE press releases, July 14).The Essen-based RWE (Rheinisch-Westfaelisches... MORE

Belarus Reaching Out For Azerbaijani Oil Via Odessa-Brody Pipeline
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is “caught in a vice, which will only continue to tighten,” between democratically motivated Western pressures and Russia’s “interest in acquiring attractive Belarusian assets from a vulnerable Lukashenka,” according to David Kramer and Wess Mitchell (www.charter97.org, July 9). If so, Western sanctions... MORE

Ukrainian Government Prepares Public Opinion for Possible Sales of Naftohaz Assets
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych hinted on July 8 at an imminent vote in the Verkhovna Rada to allow the sale of assets from Naftohaz Ukrainy to foreign investors. Yanukovych did not name these, but alluded to Gazprom. Indeed, exploratory discussions have taken place exclusively... MORE

Implications of Lithuania’s Unbundling of Gazprom-Controlled Pipelines
Lithuania has become the first EU country to start implementing the EU’s Third Package of energy market liberalization laws. Estonia is considering a move in the same direction, possibly by October. Meanwhile, Latvia has postponed a decision, awaiting potentially fateful elections. In Lithuania (as elsewhere... MORE

Lithuania Decides to Unbundle Pipelines From Gazprom’s Control
On June 30, the Lithuanian parliament adopted legislation barring the supplier of natural gas (in this case, Gazprom) from owning or operating pipelines in the country. This conforms with the European Union’s Third Package of energy market legislation, which was adopted by the EU in... MORE

Lithuania Enlists US Companies for Gas Supply and Transportation Projects
Attending the Lithuanian-chaired, Community of Democracies annual event in Vilnius on July 1, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Lithuania’s energy security strategy on its three levels: the national, regional, and European. The political endorsement accompanies specific energy projects being launched by American companies... MORE

Hungarian MOL Harassed In EU Entrant Croatia
Within days after the European Commission had cleared Croatia to join the EU (Financial Times, June 22), political harassment of Hungarian MOL has intensified in Croatia. Russian interests are conveniently using local allies to wrest operational control of INA, the Croatian oil and gas company,... MORE

Russia Seeks to Increase Energy Supplies to China
Moscow has indicated its interest in increasing trade with China but a major bilateral gas deal remained elusive. During talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in Moscow on June 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed what he described as the positive development of bilateral... MORE

Russia Seeks to Increase Energy Supplies to China
Moscow has indicated its interest in increasing trade with China, but a major bilateral gas deal remained elusive. During talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in Moscow on June 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed what he described as the positive development of bilateral... MORE