Zee Beam News

04-20-2009 - Upstream OnLine - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today he wanted to clinch a new energy pact with the European Union to ensure security of supplies and replace the European Energy Charter, which Moscow rejects. "As I promised, I will distribute today among G8 partners, G20 partners, [Commonwealth of Independent States] partners and closest neighbours such as Finland a basic document which will outline issues of international cooperation in the energy sphere, including proposals on transit agreements," Reuters quoted Medvedev as saying. Russia has refused to ratify the European Energy charter, saying it does not ensure a balance of the interests of energy producers, buyers and transit states. "The energy charter has failed to solve this imbalance. We have not ratified it and do not view ourselves bound by it," Medvedev told a joint news conference with Finnish President Tarja Halonen. "Our task is to ensure the balance of producers, transit states and energy buyers... We would like to start talks with the European Union and our other partners about these documents and hope our ideas will be taken positively," he said. Medvedev's economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters afterwards the new document will cover coal and nuclear fuel along with oil and gas. "We are really interested in the nuclear materials' angle. We should spread the principles in this sphere as well," he said. The European Union relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas needs and EU politicians have called on the bloc to cut reliance on Russia after two severe disruptions to Russian gas supplies in recent years due of disputes with transit states Ukraine and Belarus. Russia expressed anger when Ukraine, which is responsible for the bulk of Russian gas transit to Europe, signed a deal last month with the European Union for the overhaul of its pipeline system without consulting Moscow. Moscow has also repeatedly warned the European Union it could reconsider building new pipelines to Europe, such as Nord Stream and South Stream, and choose to build gas liquefaction plants instead, if Europe fails to support its projects. Halonen told the same news conference the Nord Stream pipeline remained mainly an environmental issue for Finland. "If the pipeline can be built ecologically, then it is a good solution in our opinion," she said. She noted environmental impact studies were still under review by the Baltic Sea states and said when the prime ministers of Russia and Finland meet in June, more would likely be known about the timetable for the pipeline project.