Top Economists, Russia

European energy consumers face further big rises in gas prices in the coming years because of acute shortages of Russian supplies and growing tensions between the Kremlin and EU, senior economists and a former Russian premier said Wednesday.

Eric Berglof, chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, told MEPs and senior EU officials that Gazprom, the Russian gas group majority-owned by the state, would struggle to offset declines in output, but demand from Europe and ex-Soviet Union countries would grow at 2-3% a year, The Guardian reported.

Berglof told the European Enterprise Institute that 70% of production at Gazprom, the world