Grill Europeans competing in Russia, and now taken at gunpoint from the US - the clouds are piling up in the sky over Russian gas giant Gazprom, to the extent the idea of crushing him is no longer so taboo, writes AFP.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the production volume of Gazprom this year will amount to 414 billion cu. M. This is the lowest level of production in the post-Soviet time for the company, which enjoys the largest gas reserves in the world.
Before the crisis of 2008 Gazprom quoted over $ 300 billion on the stock exchanges and openly targeting 1 trillion, and today its value is about 50 billion.
Bad news for the company multiply: in early July were suspended supplies to Ukraine, which is one of the biggest buyers, the European Commission sued Gazprom for abuse of dominant position, and the company lost market share in Russia in favor of competitors, AFP notes.
New blow came from Washington via discrete publication in the official journal of the American administration, which penalizes Southern Kirinskoe deposit in the Russian Far East. This is a project of Gazprom, which aims to lay the foundations for increased production of liquefied natural gas to the neighboring island of Sakhalin, and according to the press even lead to an exchange of assets with Anglo-Dutch Shell. The deposit is of great depth and questioned without the presence of foreign technology.
Besides Gazprom "This is bad news for Russia, because the development of LNG is a strategic goal" with a focus on Asia-Pacific markets, said Valery Nesterov, an analyst at Bank Sberbank.
Gazprom has long been trying to orient to Asia amid strained relations between the EU and the company that is regularly accused of acting more under Moscow's geopolitical interests than by commercial logic. Ukrainian crisis only strengthened the will of each side to reduce its dependence on the other, but neither of them can not do without the other, said Thursday.
Russian company constantly repeated that demand for natural gas in Europe is increasing and Russian resources remain the most accessible and most profitable over competing projects. For Gazprom exports to Europe, which is expected to grow this year, continues to wear comfortable profits recorded an increase in the first quarter of this year despite the decline in energy prices.
Brussels seems to make deaf ear and even blocking Russian gas pipeline project "South Stream" to southern Europe. In response Vladimir Putin announced another pipeline, this time to Turkey. European countries that receive gas through Ukraine will need by 2019 to look for people they need Russian gas from Turkey.
The launch of the "Turkish Stream", which was provided in June, has been delayed due to lack of a definitive agreement with Ankara, which is unlikely to be negotiated before the new elections in Turkey. According to Michael Korchomkin think tank "East yuropian gas analiziz", the chances of this pipeline becomes a reality even be "close to zero".
Critics of Gazprom said the company reacted too late to the significant evolution of the gas market in recent years and has clung to its long-term contracts linked to oil prices.
Some experts believe that Russia's interest to break this mastodon into smaller pieces that are more efficient, more responsive and more transparent. Competitors look kindly on an accelerated liberalization of the gas sector, such as oil company Rosneft, chaired by Igor Sechin influential. According to the Russian press, he asked the government to open more gas export competition and has offered Gazprom to split into two components. production and transport.
Michael Korchomkin expert predicts that such fragmentation will occur "in a few years," says AFP.