Russia withdraws from South Stream Pipeline project

[Syt]

What will Orban do now?

http://rt.com/business/210483-putin-russia-gas-turkey/

Putin: Russia forced to withdraw from S.Stream project due to EU stance

Russia is forced to withdraw from the South Stream project due to the EU's unwillingness to support the pipeline, and gas flows will be redirected to other customers, Vladimir Putin said after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"We believe that the stance of the European Commission was counterproductive. In fact, the European Commission not only provided no help in implementation of [the South Stream pipeline], but, as we see, obstacles were created to its implementation. Well, if Europe doesn't want it implemented, it won't be implemented," the Russian president said.

Russia will raise gas supplies to Turkey by 3 billion cubic meters via the Blue Stream pipeline and is mulling a new hub on the Turkish-Greek border for southern European consumers, Vladimir Putin also said after talks with his Turkish counterpart. Last year, 13.7 bcm of gas were supplied to Turkey via Blue Stream, according to Reuters.

Putin said that Russia may build a gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border to supply Southern European customers with gas to compensate for the loss of South Stream.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

[Syt]

http://rt.com/business/210483-putin-russia-gas-turkey/

UPDATED:

Putin: Russia forced to withdraw from S. Stream project due to EU stance



Russia is forced to withdraw from the South Stream project due to the EU's unwillingness to support the pipeline, and gas flows will be redirected to other customers, Vladimir Putin said after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"We believe that the stance of the European Commission was counterproductive. In fact, the European Commission not only provided no help in implementation of [the South Stream pipeline], but, as we see, obstacles were created to its implementation. Well, if Europe doesn't want it implemented, it won't be implemented," the Russian president said.

According to Putin, the Russian gas "will be retargeted to other regions of the world, which will be achieved, among other things, through the promotion and accelerated implementation of projects involving liquefied natural gas."

"We'll be promoting other markets and Europe won't receive those volumes, at least not from Russia. We believe that it doesn't meet the economic interests of Europe and it harms our cooperation. But such is the choice of our European friends," he said.

READ MORE: Gazprom to build new 63 bcm Black Sea pipeline to Turkey

The South Stream project is at the stage when "the construction of the pipeline system in the Black Sea must begin," but Russia still hasn't received an approval for the project from Bulgaria, the Russian president said.

Investing hundreds of millions of dollars into the pipeline, which would have to stop when it reaches Bulgarian waters, is "just absurd, I hope everybody understands that," he said.

Putin believes that Bulgaria "isn't acting like an independent state" by delaying the South Stream project, which would be profitable for the country.

He advised the Bulgarian leadership "to demand loss of profit damages from the European Commission" as the country could have been receiving around 400 million euros annually through gas transit.

The South Stream was intended to transport Russian gas through the Black Sea to Bulgaria – and through Serbia, Hungary, and Slovenia, further to Austria.

Russian gas giant Gazprom began construction of the onshore facilities for the pipeline back in 2012.

But the €23.5 billion project ran into difficulties, as it violated European Union regulations which state that the same company cannot both own the pipeline and the gas which is transported through it.

The crisis in Ukraine has turned the legal debate over the pipeline into a political issue, affecting the EU's willingness to find a solution to the deadlock.

The EU Commission has been pressuring member states to withdraw from the project, with the new Bulgarian government saying it will not allow Gazprom to lay the pipeline without permission from Brussels.

Putin said that Russia is ready to build a new pipeline to meet Turkey's growing gas demand, which may include a special hub on the Turkish-Greek border for customers in southern Europe.

For now, the supply of Russian gas to Turkey will be raised by 3 billion cubic meters via the already operating Blue Stream pipeline, he said. Last year, 13.7 bcm of gas were supplied to Turkeyvia Blue Stream, according to Reuters.

Moscow will also reduce the gas price for Turkish customers by 6 percent from January 1, 2015, Putin said.

"We are ready to further reduce gas prices along with the implementation of our joint large-scale projects," he added.

Russia, Turkey don't want chaos in Syria

The Russian president has said that Turkey is an important participant of the peace process in Syria, outlining the many similarities that Moscow and Ankrara have regarding the issue.

"We share a common opinion that the situation in Syria can't be considered adequate, we share a common opinion that we don't want to allow chaos in the region and the strengthening of terrorist organizations like it happened in Iraq," he said.

According to Putin, it is important to create the conditions under which all citizens of Syria will feel safe and have equal access to governance.

"We certainly need to find an acceptable solution – first of all, acceptable for the Syrian people and all political forces in the country. And, definitely, we're going to stay in contact with all participants in this process, including our friends in Turkey," he stressed.

However, the sides still disagree on the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which Ankara wants removed from power.

"We sincerely expressed our attitude towards this [Assad's] regime. Mr. President has another stance on the issue. But in general, we have reached a certain agreement on [the] resolution of the Syrian conflict," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"The only thing that we were unable to agree on is the way to resolve the crisis," he added.

A civil war between Syria's government forces and the Islamist opposition has been raging in Syria since 2011, taking over 200,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

Russia also wants to quadruple trade with Turkey, and they're building Turkey's first nuclear reactor.

[Martinus]

I'm so sorry.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

let's import gas from the US: Freedom Gas, burns better and cleaner than that autocratic rubbish!

[The Brain]

A Turkish nuclear reactor? Will it be enormous and built by Orban?

[Valmy]

Russia also wants to quadruple trade with Turkey, and they're building Turkey's first nuclear reactor.

Russia wants to shackle itself to as many corpses as possible.

[Valmy]

let's import gas from the US: Freedom Gas, burns better and cleaner than that autocratic rubbish!

It is created with fracking and thus more evil than Russia.

[jimmy olsen]

Russia also wants to quadruple trade with Turkey, and they're building Turkey's first nuclear reactor.

Russia wants to shackle itself to as many corpses as possible.

Edrogan's nuttiness aside, I thought that Turkey was doing well economically?

[Valmy]

Edrogan's nuttiness aside, I thought that Turkey was doing well economically?

I do not see how you can put a massively corrupt and heavy handed political structure aside.  Let's just say this past year was troubling.

But really it is just hilariously insane to see these RT articles portraying Russia as this big player when they are getting hammered by low oil prices and sanctions.

[Syt]

Russia also wants to quadruple trade with Turkey, and they're building Turkey's first nuclear reactor.

Russia wants to shackle itself to as many corpses as possible.

Edrogan's nuttiness aside, I thought that Turkey was doing well economically?

A large part of the growth was fueled by (partially public funded) construction projects of which Erdogan's cronies profited disproportionally, but that has been stagnant for a while now.

Between Erdogan's rhetoric, Turkey's inaction towards IS and economic cuddling up to Russia, I wonder if this will set Turkey on a long term course away from the West and towards the nascent Eurasian Union. With Turkey's accession to the EU being very unlikely at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they joined the new club if offered the chance.

[Sheilbh]

Edrogan's nuttiness aside, I thought that Turkey was doing well economically?

It is. Though they've gone off the boil a bit since the crash and had some very weird policy flips in that period too. But they're done with the IMF program, very solid growth, low unemployment and for Turkish standards low inflation.

Admittedly part of that's because Turkey used to be a basketcase. In the late 90s, early 2000s Turkey would have inflation at almost 100% and at times spent 90% of revenue covering the interest on their debts. But to an extent they've done the easy bit (admittedly something that eluded many other Turkish governments). Getting from GDP per capita of around $10 000 and 17th biggest economy in the world to $25 000 and in the top ten (what Erdogan says Turkey should aim for in the medium-term) is more difficult. I think they weathered the cash very well but I remember there were some very, very odd decisions made by the Turkish central bank at the time or maybe just after.

There are worries though. There's a lot of structural reform that's still necessary, Erdogan seems to almost ideologically believe in low interest rates (and a lot of decisions are politicised) and, like with other developing countries, a lot of the money in Turkey has sort of sloshed there from the rest of the world and could very rapidly slosh out again if things went awry.

[Brazen]

Thanks, passed this lead on to my oil and gas colleagues

[Tamas]

 

I am so happy for this. Really should have figured it out when Hungary backstabbed its allies and made sure Gazprom could start building on Hungarian soil the moment they wanted to. Once again Hungary willingly joins the losing side in a conflict. 

Ever since trouble started back home with the EU (which means about late 2010), the official line has been that the West is decadent and in swift decline (that's the same line used from 1950 to 1989 btw), and his supporters praised Orban for him seeing that it is the emerging East we should kneel before as the true keyholders for future power and prosperity.
And now Putin retreats on a big conflict with the EU after a few months of sanctions. Which of course means that the "declining" West defeated the "powerful" East without a drop of sweat. 

[celedhring]

I am so happy for this. Really should have figured it out when Hungary backstabbed its allies and made sure Gazprom could start building on Hungarian soil the moment they wanted to. Once again Hungary willingly joins the losing side in a conflict. 

Ever since trouble started back home with the EU (which means about late 2010), the official line has been that the West is decadent and in swift decline (that's the same line used from 1950 to 1989 btw), and his supporters praised Orban for him seeing that it is the emerging East we should kneel before as the true keyholders for future power and prosperity.
And now Putin retreats on a big conflict with the EU after a few months of sanctions. Which of course means that the "declining" West defeated the "powerful" East without a drop of sweat. 

You surely are aware your government will have zero trouble in spinning this as "Europe betrays Hungary once more", right?

[Tamas]

I am so happy for this. Really should have figured it out when Hungary backstabbed its allies and made sure Gazprom could start building on Hungarian soil the moment they wanted to. Once again Hungary willingly joins the losing side in a conflict. 

Ever since trouble started back home with the EU (which means about late 2010), the official line has been that the West is decadent and in swift decline (that's the same line used from 1950 to 1989 btw), and his supporters praised Orban for him seeing that it is the emerging East we should kneel before as the true keyholders for future power and prosperity.
And now Putin retreats on a big conflict with the EU after a few months of sanctions. Which of course means that the "declining" West defeated the "powerful" East without a drop of sweat. 

You surely are aware your government will have zero trouble in spinning this as "Europe betrays Hungary once more", right?

Well, the spinning they are trying right now is that it is the US behind all this, trying to push their shale gas into new markets. Which is retarded. as even if true, we should cherish the idea of being able to buy from multiple sources.

But the face-loss on this cannot be hidden: even if they sell the EU/US didit angle, the whole official point behind our blatant sucking of Putin's member was that he is the stronger side and the West cannot harm him. Conspiracy theories or not, this has been clearly disproven.