Munaeem's Blog

A political independent and moderate’s comments, analysis and links on important stories in the news

Friday, June 22, 2007

The battle to control Europe's energy markets and supply routes

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Croatia on June 24. The purpose of his visit is to discuss a a project that will link up Russia's Druzhba and Croatia's Adria oil pipelines.

Analysts say Putin's agenda in the Balkans is wider than the Druzhba-Adria oil pipeline project.

The Balkans is emerging as an energy transit hub. Both the Europeans and the Russians are trying to control the route.

The European Union hopes to use the Balkans as a transit route for natural gas from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to Western Europe.

Russians, however, wants to prevent this from happening, since it would give the continent an alternative to Russian natural gas and therefore reduce Moscow's political and economic clout.

posted by Munaeem, in Russia, World @ 9:58 PM, Email this post to friend