Russia has no wish to monopolize EU gas mkt, where imports to soar

MOSCOW, Oct 3 (PRIME) – E.U.’s pipeline imports of natural gas may soar by 100 billion cubic meters over the next 10 years, which provides Russia with a high potential, but the country has no wish to monopolize the market, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday during the Russian Energy Week.

“We expect consumption of (pipeline) gas in Europe to rise due to reduction of its own production and an increase of consumption, so we see big potential in gas imports…We estimate the increase of imports at about 100 billion cubic meters over the next 10 years,” he said.

“We are not monopolists on the European gas market, and we don’t want to be monopolists, let there be supplies of liquefied natural gas as well. A consumer should have the right to choose the country, the supplier and the routes of gas supplies, which should be competitive.”

Gas giant Gazprom’s Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said that contraction of Europe’s gas production even without higher consumption would mean its gas imports rising at least by 60 billion cubic meters by 2025 and by 80 billion cubic meters by 2030. “More and more experts start to think that even these figures are underestimated, and that additional import volumes may exceed 100 billion cubic meters a year,” he said.

The TurkStream and Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline are vital for satisfaction of Europe’s future demand in gas.

“We are to hit a new record (of gas exports to the E.U.) this year, but this record will bring us close to the annual contracted amount of gas of about 204.5 billion (cubic meters). This means that we will have to create new transport routes to satisfy the additional demand, that is why the Nord Stream-2 and TurkStream routes are vital for Europe to satisfy its additional demand for gas,” Medvedev said.

Novak also said that trade wars and protectionist measures create risks at the gas markets. “We have seen lately how trade wars and so-called protectionist measures emerge at absolutely competitive markets. This creates not only risks of uncertainty at the gas market, but also general risks for the energy security and energy provision to consumers in the world,” he said.

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