Gazprom says deals with Belarus, Ukraine will halt disruptions to Europe

Russia’s OAO Gazprom sought to assure jittery Europeans on Friday that new deals for the sale of natural gas to Belarus and Ukraine would prevent any more disruptions to western Europe.

Gazprom’s deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev was asked whether Europe should be concerned that supply disruptions over disputes with Ukraine at the beginning of 2006 and with Belarus earlier this year could continue.

“Now we have in both cases the … contractual base that eliminates interference of supply. We have increased the security of Russian gas to Europe,” he said. “In spite of the absence of support from international organizations, we have a result that is good for everybody.”
“It’s a substantial enforcement of security of supply in Europe,” he said, sitting alongside Piebalgs, the energy commissioner for the 27-member EU, whose members are among Gazprom’s biggest customers.

Piebalgs nodded politely as Medvedev spoke. But he said even though the EU and Russia share a mutual dependency for oil and gas, “we need to do our homework and prepare for disruptions.”

Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, said his company was working to get the US$22 billion development on the Pacific island of Sakhalin up and running, and that the move last month by the Kremlin to assert control over the venture had not turned it against investing in Russia.

There is “a lot of oil, a lot of gas and we happen to know something about it,” he said, adding that Shell would continue to look for new opportunities in Russia as well.

International Herald Tribune