Norway is able to increase gas supply to the countries of the European Union, Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs Borge Brende said at the conference in Brussels.
According to Borge Brende, Norway can contribute to the EU's energy security. At present, Russia is supplying about 30% of gas to the EU; Norway – 20%. “We can step up further in the years to come,” announced Borge Brende at the meeting on the EU energy security.
However, Miguel Arias Canete, the EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner, noted the necessity of looking for routes to deliver natural gas from the Caspian Sea to the European Union. The Commissioner underlined that Russia "will have to be a partner in the future," but that contracts must be transparent and respect the European laws.
Russia is going to maintain its role as the EU’s main supplier of natural gas, Energy Minister of Russia Alexander Novak said earlier.
Russia currently supplies 30% of the gas consumed in the European Union. Countries like Bulgaria are 85% dependent on Russian gas supplies. On the other hand, Romania is likely to encourage production from its own resources and become self-reliant starting from this April.
The decision on the South Stream closure and shifting to the Turkish Stream was announced during the meeting between the presidents of Russia and Turkey that took place on December 1, 2014. The Turkish Stream gas pipeline will run across the Black Sea to Turkey and will have a total capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.
“For Europe there will be no other gas transit options to risky Ukraine other than the new Turkish Stream pipeline,” Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller said. Besides, Miller suggested the EU to take up the responsibility of constructing the part from the Turkish-Greek border.
