Gas summit in Sofia despite Putin boycott

Leaders from the EU, the Balkans and gas supplier countries meet in Sofia for a two-day gas security summit overshadowed by a last-minute boycott by Russian Premier Vladimir Putin.

• The summit “Natural Gas for Europe. Security and partnership” brings together gas suppliers from the Caspian region, Central Asia and the Middle East, and transit countries and gas consumers from the Balkans and the EU.
• But Putin’s last-minute decision not to attend the talks dampened the organisers’ hopes of strengthening cooperation and security of deliveries to Europe, four months after a Russia-Ukraine gas row shut European gas taps in January.
• Instead, Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko was to join the forum, also to be attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, United States special envoy for Eurasian energy Richard Morningstar and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa.
• Several Balkan government leaders and heads of state, as well as experts and special envoys from France, Austria, Germany, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have also confirmed their presence at the two-day summit hosted by Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov.
• A business forum on the sidelines of the political talks will meanwhile group representatives of companies such as France’s GDF Suez, Germany’s RWE and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
• Bulgaria, which is almost totally dependent on Russia for its gas deliveries, was among the hardest hit by the Russia-Ukraine gas row and subsequent cut in deliveries in January.
• In a move to diversify its energy sources and routes, Bulgaria declared its support for both the EU’s flagship Nabucco project to bring Caspian gas to Europe while bypassing Russia, and for the Moscow-backed South Stream pipeline pumping Russian gas to Europe under the Black Sea.
• But while Brussels and Moscow have been competing to sign up enough gas suppliers to back their respective projects, the two pipelines have been severely sidetracked by financial difficulties.
• Sofia has also stood up against a Russian plan to cut South Stream costs by using Bulgaria’s existing pipeline network, which already channels Russian gas to neighbouring Greece, Macedonia and Turkey.
• It was this decision by Sofia that prompted Putin to boycott the summit, according to the Bulgarian government.