Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Gazprom - more worries for Europe?

A couple of clipped paragraphs from articles in today's London 'Times' :

Algerians and Russians in gas talks

TALKS in Algiers last month between Gazprom and Sonatrach, the Russian and Algerian gas giants, were overshadowed by a $7 billion (£4 billion) arms deal between the two nations. Despite being held in the shadow of a visit by President Putin, the significance of the talks over gas was not lost on the Algerian media, which described it as the first step to the creation of a “powerful energy lobby that would force Europe to bend”. The Quotidien d’Oran, a newspaper, said that Gazprom and Sonatrach would be the “locomotives of a new Opec of gas”.

and

Gazprom talks spark fears of gas cartel

DEEPENING ties between Russia and Algeria are causing concern among Europe’s gas importers, raising fears that recent talks between Gazprom and Sonatrach, the Algerian state energy company, could be the first step to the formation of a natural gas cartel.

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