RusEnergy

04-26-2006 Kommersant - by Natalia Grib, London; Petr Sapozhnikov - Moscow threatens to turn the pipelines eastward
Gazprom has for the third time changed the deadline for choosing partners for the development of the Stockman oil field. Now the deadline is undefined. This may mean that Gazprom has not been offered the long-term energy assets in Western Europe that it was counting on. Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev announced the deadline change at the Russian Economic Forum in London yesterday. The shortlist of contenders for partnership in developing the Stockman field was announced last September and consists of the Norwegian companies Statoil and Hydro, the American Chevron and ConocoPhillips and the French Total. Two or three of them are to be finally chosen.
Gazprom has been firm in its negotiating position that the payment for joining the project would be high and must be assets. Gazprom head Alexey Miller met with the heads of the five companies again last week ad sources in Gazprom and the foreign companies confirmed that a decision would be made this week. It is likely that Gazprom knowingly entered into a conflict with European Union countries because of the self-assurance provided by the Stockman offer. Earlier this week, Miller told EU ambassadors in Russia that "it mustn't be forgotten that we are actively developing new markets" while warning them against political pressure on Gazprom as it attempts to expand on the markets of those countries. Marc Franco, head of the European Commission delegation in Moscow paraphrased Miller yesterday when he stated that "attempts to limit the activities of European companies on the Russian market and to politicize the sale of gas will not lead to positive results." Gazprom is continuing its effort to enter the European market without the potential Stockman partners as well. The Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported yesterday, citing the Dutch minister of economics, that Gazprom was interested in purchasing local energy companies there. Dutch Economic Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst commented cautiously that "we must avoid a monopolistic situation. We must develop this step by step." The next step may be even harsher statements about the need for the diversification of Russian gas supplies, such as Transneft president Semen Vainshtok's announcement yesterday that the 30 million metric tons of oil would be reroute from the West to the East. "Discrimination against Russian oil will continue as long as there is an excess supply of it in Europe," he said.