If you’re a businessman and you want to sell gas, you would prefer to build a gas pipeline on the ground, because you can sell gas in every country on its route. Nord Stream 2 denies the European energy policy – said the Ukrainian diplomat and director of the Ukrainian Diplomatic Academy Serhiy Korsunsky at the conference „Energy security in Europe and around the Black Sea: the current situation and expectations”, organized by the Polish Institute of Foreign Affairs (PISM).
The meaning of Ukraine
Korsunsky started his speech: – Dependence on Russian gas is growing. In this context Ukraine is very important because most of it goes to Europe through pipelines on Ukrainian territory. The prices of it are obviously conditioned politically. Arbitrages in Stockholm lost by Gazprom are proves that they are completely unjustified from an economic point of view. Ukraine’s gas infrastructure is big and operating correctly. The gas storages in western Ukraine can store up to 34 bcm of gas, whereas the biggest gas hub in Europe – Baumgarten – is more than twice smaller – he said.
Nord Stream 2
– If you’re a businessman and you want to sell gas, you would prefer to build a gas pipeline on the ground, because you can sell gas in every country on its route. Nord Stream 2 does the opposite. The fight to stop it is still going on – the problem to stop this project is not only about the money. Germany will become an enormous gas power in Europe because they will be able to distribute it around the whole continent. The European Union was realizing its energy policy pretty well among the years – LNG terminals and interconnections were built, but Nord Stream 2 denies it – convinced Serhiy Korsunsky.
Putin’s policy
The only goal of Turkish Stream is just to completely stop the gas transit through Ukraine, in this case in the southern direction. Putin’s goal is to divide the world into the zones of influence of gas markets, so that Europe can become „the Russian zone”. The maps of Gazprom recognize that Crimea belongs to the territory of Russia, but the route of a pipeline on the bottom of the Black Sea has a characteristic curve that goes along the border of legal Ukrainian territorial waters – he said.
LNG
Expansion of the net of LNG terminals around Europe, USA and Asia is a way to create a global LNG market. Russia built a brand new, huge LNG terminal in Yamal. They understand that the gas market is becoming global and more competitive. Unfortunately, Ukraine cannot develop its own LNG facilities yet as Turkey disagrees to allow the LNG carriers through Bosfor – said the Ukrainian diplomat.
Energy security in Europe
Diversifying routes of supply, building interconnections and the initiative of energy community are the proves of success of European Union. Nord Stream 2 will be harmful for it, because it concentrates too much gas on one route, dividing Europe on East and West. Another argument against it is Russia’s recent behavior on the international arena – annexation of Crimea and cyberattacks. Nord Stream 2 would be a reward for Russia despite all these acts – summed up Bartosz Bieliszczuk from PISM.