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Gazprom denies EU 'cartel' charge
AFP
DAVOS, Switzerland
Petroleumworld.com 01 26 06Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev hit back on Thursday at EU claims the group was attempting to create a gas cartel with Algeria to control supplies to Europe.
Medvedev, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum here, said recent talks between Gazprom and Algerian state-owned energy group Sonatrach were merely aimed at increasing mutual cooperation.
"It's an absolutely normal business discussion, which could potentially bring cooperation in different areas of the energy sector," he said.
"It is based not on the assumption of a cartel-type arrangement, but based on pure commercial motivation.
"It is the same as energy companies like Exxon and Shell discussing their joint ventures," he said.
Asked if the intention was to control prices, he replied: "No, it is not possible to control prices in the gas industry due to the structure of the gas market."
On Wednesday, European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs had told a conference in Berlin that if Russia and Algeria agreed to cooperate in the production and distribution of gas to Europe "they could create a kind of cartel".
"The context of these meetings between Russia and Algeria makes us nervous," the International Herald Tribune reported him as saying in its Thursday edition.
"We, Europe, are their biggest customers. We want to have a fair price. This is not only about commercial interests. It is about tranparency," Piebalgs added.
AFP 25 1839 GMT 01 07
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