Russia Says New Pipelines Add To Europes Security

Russia will diversify energy delivery routes to Europe to cut the risk of supply disruptions.

Russia will diversify energy delivery routes to Europe to cut the risk of supply disruptions, its energy minister said on Friday.

"We are looking at various routes for delivery of energy to Europe. This will reduce the risks in provision of supplies," Viktor Khristenko said on Friday.

Russia has rattled European energy importers twice in just over a year by interrupting supplies in a bid to force its former Soviet neighbours, Ukraine and Belarus, through which pipelines pass, to pay market rates for gas and oil.

Russia's biggest European clients, such as Germany and Italy, have as a result faced oil and gas supply disruptions for a few days. Some leaders in the EU have raised questions about Russia as a reliable supplier.

Khristenko told a United Nations panel on sustainable energy that a range of Russian infrastructure projects aimed at diversifing hydrocarbon export flows, which affect all Europe and Central Asian states "one way or another".

"If we set up new routes, including the Baltic (gas pipeline), then it gives us additional capacity and reserves," he added.

The comment came as a response to criticism by some European nations, including Poland, which say that the Baltic pipeline, also known as Nord Stream, will worsen Europe's energy security as it would allow Russia to cut supplies to some nations.

Russia's Gazprom argues that it will only add to supply flexibility and allow to meet contract obligations should new problems with transit states emerge.

"These projects will cover additional gas demand at traditional Russian markets of Central Europe and forward Russian gas to new Nordic and U.K. markets," said Khristenko.

The gas export monopoly is also expanding its Blue Stream pipeline to Turkey, which could over time ship more gas to southern Europe, directly competing with supplies of Azeri gas via the planned Nabucco pipeline.

Nabucco is a key EU project to help the block diversify away from Russian gas supplies.

He said having an excess capacity of 15 percent for both oil and gas pipelines was needed to avoid "technical glitches" having any immediate effect on delivery.

On the oil side, excess capacity would be created if Russia expands its largest oil port of Primorsk to 2.5 million barrels per day from the current 1.5 million by re-routing volumes from the Druzhba pipeline, which runs to Poland and Germany.

Druzhba suffered from disruptions in January following a pricing dispute between Russia and Belarus. (Reuters)