Brussels, 27/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - A study commissioned by the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament and published by a German research institute - DIW Berlin - on the eve of the presentation by the Commission, on Wednesday 28 May, of its new strategy to reduce the EU's external energy dependency (see EUROPE 11088), stresses the major role of the Russian gas company Gazprom in the energy infrastructure of the EU and the serious consequences that are critical to the energy security of Europe.
The study shows that prolonged interruptions to supply, as was the case during the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine in 2006 and 2009, can seriously compromise the security of countries which are 100% dependent on Russian gas (Finland, the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus and Ukraine). The real Achilles heel in the European energy policy, the authors stress, is Ukraine.
The study looks at two scenarios of interruptions to supplies from Gazprom. Firstly, the blockage of supplies via Ukraine, secondly the blockage of supplies via the infrastructure owned by Gazprom in Europe (Yamal, North Stream). In the former scenario, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine would be seriously affected. In the latter, the countries of Eastern Europe have several options to diversify and would be less affected: they could offset the reduction in supplies of Russian gas with domestic production, imports of LNG and reducing consumption of natural gas.
According to the study, the EU and its member states should continue their proactive approach to improve their resilience to interruptions to supply on political grounds. In the short term, additional infrastructure to diversify supply in Eastern Europe will be needed, together with an increase in reverse flow capacity and the completion of LNG terminals. The member states should also adopt national or cross-border strategic reserves of gas to cover several weeks.
In the medium term, the EU and the member states should reduce their external dependency on gas in the context of a coherent energy and climate strategy, combining increased energy efficiency with a high degree of decarbonisation of the energy system and the systematic use of renewables.
“Questions have to be asked about Gazprom's growing control of the critical gas infrastructure of the EU. The Commission also needs to take on board national security considerations and review the rules on the acquisition of the EU's strategic infrastructure by entities which are not part of the EU”, German Green MEP Reinhard Bütikofer commented on Tuesday 27 May. (EH)