Energy Blast – July 17, 2009

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has said that ‘existing arrangements to deal with gas emergencies are insufficient’.  The European Commission has said that EU countries have to construct a new gas infrastructure to be able to endure cuts of up to 60 days in the future, and that the two countries ‘where the biggest investments need to be made are Lithuania and Slovenia’.   In her meeting with President Medvedev, Angela Merkel apparently defended the Nabucco pipeline for achieving energy security.  Medvedev was reportedly less complimentary: ‘If Nabucco gets gas, then it means someone needs it.  But so far no one has been able to explain to me where the gas will come from‘.   ‘Germany has always professed EU solidarity on energy, but its actions have often suggested the opposite’ – see why Gerhard Schröder and Joschka Fischer are at odds over energy in Europe in the Economist.  Denmark is planning to create a special Arctic task force – a step forward in the international race for resources in the region. Will Azerbaijan be able to give Nabucco the supplies it has promised? asks RFE/RL.