Russia should be able to supply gas to Asia as well as Europe- Medvedev
MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said political reasons for Russia to supply gas to China should not be sought and that the future lay in this region's market.
Russia does not attach much importance to statements by European countries on the need to look for alternatives to Russian gas, he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
"First, each country or group of countries, including the European Union, has the right to diversify their supply sources. This is true. But we don't attach much importance to this simply because, so far, there is no viable alternative in sight to Russian supplies. We just happen to think that we, as a major energy-supplying power, must have an opportunity to deliver gas not only to Europe but also to Asia," Medvedev said in the interview.
"We are benefitting from this. Today, I wouldn't look for politics behind this, but I have no doubt that supplying energy to the Asia Pacific Region holds out a great promise in future. More than that, we have enough capacities and enough gas to send supplies via both the eastern and the western routes. But even if we look at the worst prospect - purely theoretically - any undelivered European gas supplies can be sent to China by the eastern route. But that, let me stress this point again, is so far an absolutely theoretical possibility," he said.
"All talk that Europe plans to move away from Russian gas supplies is "absolutely abstract or politicised in nature," Medvedev said. Some of our partners, including in the United States of America, say: 'We'll heap you guys in Europe with LNG.' OK. Let them give us the calculations. As far as I understand, even if this is done on a very balanced basis, the price of LNG to be supplied from the United States of America will be 40% more expensive than the Russian pipeline gas."
"We value our European partners very much. We have worked with them for decades. It is a very important and very valuable market. I want everybody to understand that. On the other hand, we cannot supply our gas to the European market alone, because we have enough for the Asian market, which is the most rapidly developing market, including China, a major economy," he said.
