Russia remains the EU’s largest energy supplier
Russia remains the EU’s third-most important trading partner and the largest energy supplier, the EU's statistics bureau Eurostat said Thursday.
With total trade volume of more than $305.6 billion in 2006, Russia accounted for 6.2 percent of the EU's exports and 10.4 percent of the EU's imports, making it the EU's third-largest trading partner after the United States and China, according to the data released by Eurostat.
Meanwhile, the EU's trade deficit with Russia also expanded to $98.9 billion last year from $58.7 billion in 2000.
The increased deficit was mainly due to imports of energy, which rose from $51.6 billion in 2000 to $134.7 billion in 2006. In 2005, Russia supplied more than 40 percent of the EU's natural gas imports and more than 30 percent of crude oil imports, compared to 50 percent and 22 percent respectively in 2000.
Energy was high on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his European counterparts on Friday in Mafra, Portugal.
Due to its heavy reliance on Russia for oil and gas, the EU has been concerned about its energy security after the events of late 2005 when the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom cut gas supplies to Ukraine in a pricing battle that led to shortages across the European continent.
A dispute between Russia and Belarus last December and January also affected oil supplies to some European countries.
Azeri says BTC security ensured
Azerbaijan said the latest tension on the Turkish-Iraqi border cannot affect the operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline, Azad Azarbaycan TV reported.
Industry and Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev has said the pipeline's security is ensured at a high level and that it is not quite easy to commit terrorist attacks on the areas the pipeline passes through.
Azerbaijan is fully capable of ensuring the security of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and other pipelines on its own and it has enough resources to do so.
The Azerbaijani government can only use the experience of international organizations, including NATO, in this issue.
Aliyev says the government has assumed commitment to protect pipelines and that even a special department has been set up to that end under a special instruction.
The special representative of the NATO secretary-general for the South Caucasus and Central Asia, Robert Simmons, saidthe Northern Alliance wants to be involved in ensuring the security of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
However, Aliyev says this should not be understood as bringing NATO troops into Azerbaijan.
He said: “I would say that someone should not think that NATO will station some forces here and armed soldiers will protect it (the pipeline). This is not right and Azerbaijan does not need it. This is not on the agenda. It would be naive to think that NATO meant some forces when it said that it can protect it.”
“NATO has experience, there are modern methods and equipment. I believe that this is what was meant when NATO spoke about cooperation.”
Indonesian firm eyes Iranian oil block
After recently winning an oil and gas tender in Qatar, Indonesian state-owned PT Pertamina is now setting its sights on an exploration right in Iran.
"We are bidding for the Laleh block," Sukusen Soemarinda, upstream director of Pertamina, said Monday, referring to one of 17 oil and gas blocks that the Iranian government currently puts on offer, Fars News Agency reported.
"We have partnered with several other firms in this venture, yet we cannot disclose them," he added.
Only recently, Pertamina had teamed up with German-based company Wintershall, a subsidiary of German chemical giant BASF, in securing an exploration right on an onshore oil block in Qatar.
Pertamina holds a 25 percent interest in the block, with Wintershall controlling the remaining 75 percent, rendering the company the operator of the block.
The commercial production of the Qatari onshore oil block is not expected to start until the end of 2008 or early 2009.
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Closing oil prices, Oct. 26, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $88.43
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $91.31
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