Brown says that the UK won’t run out of gas

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday that the UK’s natural gas reserves will not run out in spite of record demand. This spike in demand is caused by the recent cold weather.

A supplier, National Grid, issued two “balancing alerts”, which mean a possible supply shortfall, which were promptly lifted. A spokeswoman for the company said that there was a possible shortfall of 35 million cubic metres (1.2 billion cubic feet). This third balancing alert is expected to last for the next few days, and is said not to be due to the cold weather—which is expected to continue for at least a week—but due to problems in Norwegian gas fields.

Russia strikes multi-billion deals with China

China and Russia has signed billions of dollars worth of deals during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing on Tuesday. The trip was aimed at bolstering business, political and military ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said that Putin came to Beijing to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He said that the Russian leader would also meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The two sides are to sign a joint statement of regular high level meetings between the two countries.

Earlier in the day, Russian officials told reporters Russian and Chinese companies signed US$3.5 billion worth of deals. They include a $500 million loan from the Agricultural Bank of China to Russia’s second biggest lender, VTB.

Putin launches Far East pipeline

Construction was launched on 31 July 2009 in Khabarovsk with a ceremony, which was attended by the Russian Prime minister Vladimir Putin. The Sakhalin–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok pipeline is a planned natural gas pipeline to transport Sakhalin’s gas to Primorsky Krai and Far East countries.

In September 2007, the Russian Federation’s Industry and Energy Ministry approved the gas Development Program for Eastern Siberia and the Far East. The pipeline project was approved by Gazprom’s board of directors on 23 July 2008.

EC and US to provide financial backing for Nabucco Project

Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey sign an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the Nabucco natural gas pipeline from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March, a major natural gas hub in Austria, diversifying the current natural gas suppliers and delivery routes for Europe.

Pipeline Map

On 27 January 2009, the Nabucco Summit held in Budapest.

At the summit, the heads of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said, that they are prepared to provide financial backing for the Nabucco gas pipeline.

On 28 January 2009, the European Commission proposed €250 million as a part of its Economic Recovery Plan to be contributed through the EIB towards funding the Nabucco pipeline.

EC fines GDF Suez and E.ON for Megal pipeline

The European Commission imposes its second largest fine ever, levying energy companies GDF Suez and E.ON €553 million each over arrangements on the MEGAL pipeline.

Compressor station near Weiherhammer

The construction of the pipeline  started in 1975 when Ruhrgas and Gaz de France formed a partnership for transportation of Russian natural gas to France and southern Germany.

The pipeline was commissioned in 1980. The pipeline cost €634 million.

In July 2009, the European Commission fined GDF Suez and E.ON €553 million each due to collusion on the MEGAL pipeline.

Commission officials claimed there was a deal between the two groups’ predecessor companies – Gaz de France and Ruhrgas – not to sell gas sent via MEGAL into each other’s home markets dating from the mid-1970s.

Russia and Ukraine fight over natural gas

Disputes between Russian state-controlled gas supplier Gazprom and Ukraine over natural gas supplies, prices and debts have threatened natural gas supplies in numerous European countries that depend on Russian natural gas.

In January 2009, the dispute resulted in 18 European countries reporting major falls or cut-offs of gas supplies from Ukrainian pipelines carrying Gazprom gas bound for them.

Natural gas crisis hits Austria and Turkey

With freezing temperatures, combined with snow over the past few days Russia halted the natural gas flow to Ukraine, and therefore to subsequent countries such as Bulgaria, Austria, Turkey, Poland, Romania and Hungary.

The Russian natural gas pipeline is the primary source of natural gas for some countries such as Ukraine, Austria and Turkey.

Ukraine is currently in negotiations with Russia in order to restart the gas flow, however Russia has increased the prices from US$179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $250 per 1,000 cubic meters for Ukraine.