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September 14, 2006
Russian Gas Supplies next winter for Europe ?
The weather is still pleasantly warm, and winter seems, as yet, to be just an unpleasant thought that can be put off until, at least, Thanksgiving. But unfortunately for those who have to look towards energy supplies for the winter, particularly in Europe, it may already be coming too quickly. To simply describe what is likely going to turn into yet another mess this winter, let me try a quick summary of what seems to be in the offing. Gazprom you may recall has been buying into, or acquiring more control of, pipelines that carry their gas from Russia to the West. In the process, last year, it had a bit of a row with Ukraine, over the price that should be paid for the gas Ukraine was using. By offsetting the cheaper price that was to be paid for gas from Turkmenistan, the deal that was cut gave Ukraine the promise of gas at a price that would allow it to continue to function. Well, unfortunately for that agreement, Gazprom has just agreed to pay more for Turkmen gas. At a price of $100 per thousand cubic meters this is already $5 above the price that Ukraine was going to pay for a blend that also contained $230 Gazprom gas.
Posted by dymaxion at September 14, 2006 10:57 PM