Skip to main content

Cheney on Russia and International Energy Policy

By Eric McErlain
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney wasn't mincing any words yesterday when it came to Russia and its role in the European natural gas market:
"No legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidation or blackmail, either by supply manipulation or attempts to monopolize transportation," Cheney said, weighing in on a heated European debate over Russia's reliability as an energy exporter following a brief New Year's shutoff of natural gas to Ukraine. "
And I don't think word of this news, which hit the wires around the same time as Cheney's remarks, was a coincidence:
Kazakhstan's energy minister said Thursday that the Central Asian nation was interested in building a gas pipeline to Europe that would bypass Russia, The Associated Press reported from Astana.

Oil Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told the visiting EU energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, that his country sought to cooperate with the European Union to diversify its energy export routes.

"A trans-Caspian gas pipeline, from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and further to Europe, is seen as one of the feasible routes," he said after talks with Piebalgs, who was visiting the ex-Soviet republic for the first time as Europe seeks new export routes from the Caspian region and a wider range of oil and gas suppliers.

Russia caused concern in the EU and calls for more diverse sources when it halted deliveries to Ukraine in a price dispute, disrupting supplies to European countries. Russia provides one- quarter of the gas Europe consumes.
Then again, if you increased the share of electricity generated by nuclear energy, this might be less of a worry.

Technorati tags: , , , , ,

Comments

Rod Adams said…
One of the advantages of nuclear power is that it can provide exceptional freedom to its owners.

Once a company or country has its own nuclear plants, it is possible to gain a measure of independence from fuel suppliers that is not possible with any fossil fuel power plant.

Even if the company/country does not own a complete fuel cycle, it can stockpile many years worth of fuel, making it difficult for any short term pressure to be applied.
May 6, 2006 at 9:04 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday Update

By
From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

By
Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...
23 comments
Read more

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

By
Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...
Post a Comment
Read more