While media interest focuses on refugees, Gazprom has reduced its commitment on the Turkish Stream pipeline and moved to more reliable customers, Germany Northern Europe.
Recent the agreement for the doubling of Nord Stream, a pipeline that already carries gas directly to Germany, through the Baltic, with no transit risks. The goal is to increase the annual capacity from the current 55 billion cubic meters to 110.
This is an evidence that, for Europe, there will not be so many alternatives to the Russian gas which will always appear as the most competitive.
It is also an evidence that Italy shall never become a gas hub, as the italian governments led to believe, by imposing useless works. Algerian and Libian pipelines are in trouble, Turkish Stream shall connect Russia to Turkey and from there to Balkans and the Tap from Greece is still to be defined. Small chances for the american shale being competitive, once it will be available.
Assets exchange, with the German BASF, will allow Gazprom to take control of a major share of the distribution system and gas storage in central Europe, as well as shares in oil fields in the North Sea.
Similar swap transactions are envisaged for Austrian OMV and with Dutch Shell.
Gazprom will fully control Wingas, which distributes gas in the central Europe and has storage facilities in Austria and Germany. In addition to other distribution companies, Gazprom will acquire 50% of Winz, active in extracting offshore in the Netherlands, Denmark and Britain. In return, Gazprom will sell units of two blocks of rich siberian Urengoy field.
On one hand Europe must maintain the embargo to Moscow,as imposed by Brussels, on the other hand Germany and northern Europe are doing excellent business ensuring themselves the supply of gas, which in case will be addressed to south.
When the MOU of Nord Stream doubling was signed, Brussels officially deemed it as “superfluous”.
Il blog di Edoardo Beltrame 