Pipeliners

9 April 2009 - FOCUS News Agency – Sofia. Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom Deputy CEO, expressed the company’s support towards the idea that Europe needs to satisfy increasing natural gas demands trough diversifying gas transit routes and securing gas deliveries, according to The 24 Chasa Daily. He explained that this is the very intention of the Nabucco, South and North Stream projects, aiming to supply additional quantities of gas directly to EU consumers. The EU and Gazprom are both interested in the efficiency and security of Ukraine’s gas transit network, Medvedev said, but the EU missed a chance to improve its energy security by excluding Russia from talks on its modernization. Ukraine’s gas transit network is completely synchronized with Russia’s. There are fundamental technical reasons why the Ukrainian system cannot operate separately. Gazprom must participate, or else, there will be direct and unpredictable consequences on whole Europe, due to changes in gas exportation contracts with Russian and Central Asian producers, Mr. Medvedev concluded.