Russian Energy Week, a major international forum, has started in Moscow. Its central event was the address by President of Russia Vladimir Putin. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak met with energy ministers of Russia’s foreign partners on the sidelines; he also attended the key sessions and gave interviews to Russian and foreign media outlets.
President Vladimir Putin's address was the highlight of the Russian Energy Week (REW). The President proposed creating a major gas hub in Turkiye, involving Russia, which will ensure supplies to Europe.
“Fourteen billion cubic metres of gas are in transit to Europe via TurkStream. Not a lot, but still something. <…> We could move the lost volume of transit through the Nord Stream pipelines along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make Turkiye the main route for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe and create a major gas hub for Europe in Turkiye, if, of course, our partners are interested in seeing this happen,” Vladimir Putin said. Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said it was technically possible to implement the Russian President's idea and proposed starting negotiations on the technical and economic parts of the project.
In his remarks at the plenary session on “New Challenges, New Opportunities: What’s in Store for the Oil and Gas Market?”, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak focused on the key factors behind the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day starting in November 2022. Apart from the threat of a global economic recession and underinvestment in oil and gas projects, there is uncertainty arising from inexpedient political decisions, which generate risks and aggravate the world energy crisis.
“The greatest uncertainty is linked with deliberate decisions adopted by politicians to accommodate their ambitions. This concerns sanctions against oil and gas producing complexes. Oil sanctions have been introduced against Iran, Venezuela and Russia, which together account for over 20 percent of the world’s daily oil consumption. What predictability can we speak about, if decisions are being taken against the countries that ensured the stability of the energy market?” Alexander Novak said.
The session was attended by the energy ministers of Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, as well as Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller. Mr Miller issued a warning that the EU sanctions against Russian gas would create a situation where Europe would face fuel shortages not only during the winter of 2022, but also in 2023 and 2024. “European experts note that currently the European balance is short of 800 million cubic metres of gas a day; this is one-third of EU consumption in an abnormally cold weather,” he said, adding that the European zone’s consumption during the heating season was 60 billion cubic metres of gas, whereas the underground gas storage facilities currently contained only 20 billion cubic metres of gas. “Highly pessimistic forecasts say that the UGSF will have just 5 percent of gas left after gas withdrawal is completed. Europe will survive this winter, but what will it do at the start of winter in 2023-2024? This means that the energy crisis is here to stay and that it is system-wide. A more acute problem is how to get through the winter. If there are five abnormally cold days at a stretch, entire cities and territories will freeze,” he warned.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak had a bilateral meeting with Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Türkiye Fatih Donmez during the Russian Energy Week business programme. Both parties said they were satisfied with the development of Russia-Türkiye relations and their steadily expanding potential.
“Contrary to unprecedented Western pressure on Türkiye, the leadership of our countries is displaying due determination and courage and is acting in the interests of our nations,” Alexander Novak said.
In the first seven months of 2022, Russia-Türkiye trade soared by almost 80 percent on the same period of 2021, he added. The sides noted greater cooperation in the gas sphere, the nuclear and conventional power industries. Türkiye is becoming a major buyer of Russian gas. When completed, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant will meet up to ten percent of the country’s power demand.
Alexander Novak and Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Bolat Akchulakov discussed cooperation in the power industry, including regulations for the operation of the common electricity market of the Eurasian Economic Union and specific disputes that have to be resolved. The sides charted cooperation measures in the oil and gas industry and in nuclear power sphere. Russian experts are also ready to prospect for oil and gas in Kazakhstan.
During their talks, Alexander Novak and Minister of Energy and Mines of Algeria Mohamed Arkab noted the impressive potential for expanding bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sector, the power industry and renewable energy sources. They focused on interaction between OPEC + and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum during the stabilisation of the global energy resources market.
“We can see positive achievements in unleashing the potential of our business interaction by implementing joint projects, including those in the power industry,” said Alexander Novak.
While meeting with Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan Parviz Shakhbazov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak suggested discussing joint hydrocarbons production and transit projects and the development of new gas condensate deposits. The sides reviewed the implementation of power industry and nuclear sector projects.
“Russian investment in Azerbaijan totals $4.5 billion, and Azerbaijan has invested about $1.5 billion in Russia. In January-August 2022, bilateral trade increased by 11.5 percent and topped $2.2 billion,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov presented awards to the winners of the Energy of Words international media contest in the field of energy. Certificates have been presented to federal and regional journalists, hosts of Telegram channels and heads of energy companies’ press services for their outstanding contribution to the coverage and information support of global energy issues, solutions and trends.
“The energy industry is undergoing a thorough transformation, which is why it is important to provide objective information to energy users and citizens,” Alexander Novak said.
Dmitry Peskov noted that journalists and PR staff in the energy industry were lucky “because they constantly improve their professionalism and will never complain about a lack of work.” He added that entire nations were looking at energy issues with hope and fear.
Alexander Novak had an interview with Russian and foreign journalists and also talked with the media on the sidelines of the forum.
The first day of Russian Energy Week, a key international forum for the Russian fuel and energy sector, was fruitful. It also revealed that foreign partners are highly interested in cooperation with Russia despite the sanctions and in the name of stability and development of the global energy market.
