[Pappadeux]

From meeting with Turkey PM

"Given we don't have permission from Bulgaria/EU, Russia cannot continue with the project."

[dissident]

The EU can go eat the US LNG cake.

[Synapsid]

dissident,

How long do you estimate this decision has been pending? It makes great sense in regard to trade between Russia and Turkey.

[dissident]

dissident,

How long do you estimate this decision has been pending? It makes great sense in regard to trade between Russia and Turkey.

I am surprised that Turkey was "bought off" so quickly. They were trying to fly in Tatar jihadis into Crimea back in March.

The decision was probably made several months ago and once things went south sufficiently it was finalized. I do not think this is directly related to the China export deals.

[AndyA]

That gas is now going to go to China. The EU cancelled the deal when they brought out new rules, then applied them retroactively. It's basically a strategic move away from Russian gas, toward Qatari gas, once Assad is removed so the pipeline through Syria can go ahead that is.

[ROCKMAN]

A bit more detail:

AP — Amid spiraling tensions with the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Monday that Moscow is spiking a multibillion dollar gas pipeline project for southern Europe and will focus instead on boosting its energy ties with Turkey. Moscow will increase gas supplies to Turkey across the existing pipeline and later could build a new link and possibly work with Turkey on creating a gas hub on the border with Greece, Putin said. He argued that the EU's opposition to the South Stream pipeline — which would have run under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further on to southern Europe — meant Russia had no other choice but to scrap it.

The announcement is part of the Kremlin's efforts to forge new alliances as Russia-West relations have plummeted to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis. It reflects the narrowing room for maneuver for Russia, which previously had competed with Turkey for the role of a key energy conduit to the lucrative European markets. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed ties with Russia, but was tight-lipped on the prospect of creating the energy hub proposed by Putin, signaling that tough bargaining lies ahead. Cold-shouldered by the European Union, Putin still wants to expand Russia's gas exports to the EU markets bypassing Ukraine and is also keen to demonstrate that Moscow can find new partners despite Western efforts to isolate it. Erdogan, in turn, sees ties with Russia as an important tool to raise Turkey's global leverage and boost its economy.

[sparky]

.
Certainly the European commission has been raising a lot of difficulties for the project
it doesn't conform to Bruxelles third energy review .
there is the matter of finances , 14 Billions for the underwater section ,Gazprom has other use for their money
why build it if there is no certainty it will be profitable
Turkey and Russia go way back they have fought more war against each other than anyone else
but Turkey run its foreign policy as it want ,
they have deep disagreement with Russia about everything more or less , Syria , Ukraine ,Crimea ,Georgia ....but still are courteous with each others

[Synapsid]

dissident,

My guess is that Erdogan is making his own foreign policy.

[GHung]

Meanwhile: Ukraine gets 150 million euro EU loan to modernize natural gas pipelines

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine landed a 150 million euro ($187 million) loan on Monday to modernize its section of the pipeline used to deliver natural gas from Russia to Europe.

In a separate development, Russian President Vladimir Putin later in the day announced that Moscow would stop pursuing construction of a Black Sea gas pipeline widely viewed as an attempt to circumvent Ukraine.

Speaking after a loan signature ceremony in Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said optimization of his country's gas pipelines would lower the cost of transporting the fuel by 20 percent.

The loan is being provided to state-owned pipeline operator Ukrtransgaz by the EU's lender, the European Investment Bank.

Yatsenyuk says refurbishment of Ukraine's section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline will boost energy efficiency and reduce harmful emissions.

Almost 120 kilometers of pipelines will be replaced and two compressor stations modernized under the project. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is expected to contribute another $200 million in loans for the same planned four-year reconstruction effort.

Yatsenyuk said he hopes a Ukrainian company will carry out the project, which he said could boost the economy.

The pipeline system has the capacity to supply Europe with 142.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

Russia has for years been pursuing pipeline projects intended to reduce its reliance on transit through Ukraine. Commercial and political disputes have led to the suspension of gas supplies to Europe in the past.

One is Nord Stream, a recently completed pipeline under the Baltic Sea, directly linking Germany with Siberia's vast natural gas reserves with a capacity to transit 55 billion cubic meters annually.

Moscow has lobbied hard to also build South Stream, which would have seen gas transported from Russia through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and other European countries, bypassing Ukraine.

Yatsenyuk said recent elections in Bulgaria and Moldova had signaled a turn away from a pro-Russian line and, accordingly, initiatives like South Stream.

"I hope Ukraine will not be bypassed by South Stream," he said Monday. "South Stream is a Russian political project."......
http://www.startribune.com/world/284300521.html

And: BBC - Russia drops South Stream gas pipeline plan

......."Taking account of the fact that until now we have not received permission from Bulgaria, we believe that in the current conditions Russia cannot continue with the realisation of this project," said Mr Putin, speaking alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

"If Europe does not want to carry out (South Stream), then it will not be carried out, We are now going to focus our energy resources in other directions."

Mr Putin said Russia could build a gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border to supply Europe with gas to compensate for the loss of South Stream......
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30283571

[sparky]

.
"The loan is being provided to state-owned pipeline operator Ukrtransgaz by the EU's lender, the European Investment Bank."

it's not the company the son of vice president Biden is working for , but the Ukrainian gas industry everybody is brother

http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/06/i ... ny/372385/

[Mesuge]

Midterm/longterm that means only one thing, even the rest of manuf jobs in western europe will move eastward (incl. german colonies in eastern/central Europe near old energy pipes), as the alternative in LNG sourced on int. market would be more expensive in the west and less reliable than russian pipes. Bravo, EU elites, what another great leap of stupidity or could we say yet another can kicking excercise in preserving old privilages for some clans. One could also bet that this all doesn't concern the european wider public one bit at the current moment, with few and marginal exceptions like french shipyard workers protesting against Hollandobamo.

What a joke anyway, new EU comm. chief is a reknown crook with strong can kicking pedigree (Juncker) and new EU president is former polish leader (Tusk) who doesn't speak english nor french, but is at least "atlantist" enough. This is umasked terminal decline in plain sight. I've been shocked recently to learn that the dutch government now openly confirms in msm they planned and preped hard core style in 2012 for EUR exit, should the situation deteoriate more.

He who thinks that todays brutal sitting on the necks of Austria, Hungary, (Serbia), Bulgaria, Greece and other EU countries favoring South stream won't have long term consequences, especially in/after some future energy crunch situation, is a fool.

[dissident]

The EU wants to force Russia to keep subsidizing Ukraine like before. It does not want to pay for the tar baby it created with US help. We will have the usual shtick of transit gas being stolen. When Russia tries to stop it as in 2006 and 2009 we will have the western media propaganda chorus accusing Russia of "shutting off the valves" to "blackmail" the precious west and its minions. Of course the western media will never send a reporter to the pumping stations or consult the Swiss company that Gazprom hired to monitor the meters. They will just lie.

Russia needs to shut down transit through Ukraine ASAP. Let the EU flap in the wind and eat its hate.

[dissident]

http://en.ukraina.ru/news/20141202/1011351495.html

Russia's energy minister said he was unaware of any pre-payment from Ukraine for gas supplies on Monday, the day the deadline was expiring for Kiev to pay for December supplies "…We have no information that the pre-payment funds for the December supplies have arrived," Alexander Novak told reporters. "Despite claims from the Ukrainian side that there is a desire to pay for 1 billion cubic metres (bcm), we have not received these funds yet." Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said last week Kiev might make a pre-payment to Russia for gas before Dec. 1, reiterating that the country expected to buy up to 1.5 billion (bcm) of gas from Russia by the end of the year.

[AndyA]

Russia is still building the pipeline, now though it is going to Turkey. It seems the volumes are similar, though why Turkey needs so much Russian gas I don't know. This could be a backdoor into Greece.

Interestingly Russia didn't threaten to cancel the pipeline because of the new rules, they just cancelled it, out of the blue. Europe must have been expecting Russia to cave in, to its demands,

[sparky]

.
The really stupid thing is that the European commission had as an excuse "to diversifie and secure supplies "

the gas still would have come from the same place ,Russia , but now the Ukrainians will be able to blackmail Europe
into loaning them money to pay their gas bill . or else they will pilfer it as they did before