tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7800828841873738105.post8521803792356305623..comments2023-07-02T06:58:33.737-05:00Comments on WebberEnergyBlog: Russian-Serbian Energy Deals: What’s the real deal here?Michael E. Webber, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12416546342365493633noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7800828841873738105.post-73332508729935656162008-01-28T22:59:00.000-06:002008-01-28T22:59:00.000-06:00This is a very interesting post. Just some days be...This is a very interesting post. Just some days before the Serbia deal, Bulgaria also accepted to be part of the South Stream project. Unlike Serbia, Bulgaria did not accept Russia having a majority stake in the section of the project that crosses its territory. According to some reports, Russia tried hard to achieve a deal that would get them the majority but failed.<BR/><BR/>Some analysts have pointed out that Russia's two proposed gas pipelines (south and north stream) are economically unrealistic. The argument is that they would be the deepest and the longest under sea pipelines respectively and thus the construction costs would be such that their profitability would be seriously hampered. I don't know how much truth is in that analysis.<BR/><BR/>After Europe's gas supplies were disrupted when Russia ceased to provide gas to Ukraine for a number of days the previous year, the European countries started looking for alternatives. <BR/><BR/>While several more alternatives exist, it is not clear how fast they can become reality and how much would they contribute to the solution of the problem. One of them is increasing Norway's natural gas production - the Scandinavian country has already been doing this. Another one is to build more LNG receiving and converting plants, but that also takes time, and the need to find other suppliers of gas. Given the proximity to Europe, Algeria and Libya would be the best alternatives. This however opens a whole new set of problems. A third one was the construction of the alternative pipeline, Nabucco. But this one seems to be almost dead after Russia's successful deals with Bulgaria and Serbia. <BR/>The future of the North Stream pipeline is a little bit more uncertain. Poland and the Baltic countries have opposed it because it would bypass them. Poland had lost a lot of credibility among its European partners after the disastrous government of the Kaczinsky twin, but the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk might prove considerably better at convincing Germany to include them in any project.Cesar Martinezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02882271034654991918noreply@blogger.com