Putin says Russia seeking new oil, gas transit routes to improve reliability |
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Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:41
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MOSCOW (AFX) - Russia is planning new transit routes to Europe and Asia for its oil and gas that will reduce its dependence on transit countries and increase reliability of supply, President Vladimir Putin said.The Russian leader insisted his country was a reliable energy supplier and said Russia wanted long-term agreements with European companies of the kind already reached with Germany's BASF and Italy's ENI.'We of course will look for routes of direct delivery,' Putin said at his annual news conference.'Russia has always completely fulfilled and intends to fulfil its obligations in the future. But we are not obliged to subsidise the economies of other countries,' Putin said, the latter a reference to recent price disputes with transit countries Belarus and Ukraine.Russia has increasingly been criticised by the European Union for endangering energy supplies to Europe by being too heavy-handed in relations with neighbouring states.Putin outlined several projects to reduce dependence on transit countries.In particular, Russia will expand the Primorsk oil terminal on the Gulf of Finland by 50 mln tonnes annually so as to increase direct exports via the Baltic Sea, Putin said.The expansion of Primorsk 'will significantly reduce our dependence on transit countries,' Putin said.He added that Russia would speed up work on an oil pipeline system connecting Siberia to the Pacific coast and China and would look at expanding a gas pipeline via the Black Sea.'We will speed up construction of the pipeline system to the Pacific coast to directly reach the developing markets of Asia. We are building to the far east. We intend to build to China and will do so,' Putin said.Putin said he was not worried about European countries wanting to reduce their dependence on Russian energy and said Moscow would seek long-term partnerships with European companies.'We are actively developing cooperation on combining assets, of which there are already examples, such as BASF and Gazprom, Gazprom and ENI. These are built on a long-term basis. They are taking on a more and more reliable character,' Putin said.The projects with ENI and BASF are among a number of projects being pursued in Europe by Russian energy giant Gazprom.newsdesk@afxnews.comafp/cmrCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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Russia 'significantly' to reduce economic support for Belarus - Putin 