Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 1
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
The US sanctions against Russia will strengthen the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor, Salihe Kaya, expert, research assistant at the Turkish Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), told Trend over phone.
Kaya said that "the US sanctions against Russia are connected with the US interest in exporting gas to Europe."
The expert added that "the US intends to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), as it can not supply gas through a pipeline due its remote geographical location."
"Currently, the most profitable and close market for the US is the European market and the US is trying to influence the EU-Russia relations proceeding solely from its own energy interests," Kaya said.
The expert said that the EU itself is also interested in reducing dependence on Russia’s natural gas.
Kaya stressed that "while closely examining the EU energy policy, one can see that Germany’s interests do not completely coincide with EU’s."
The expert added that Germany actively supports Russia’s "Northern Stream 2" project.
"One third of the entire natural gas used in the EU accounted for Germany," she said. "Germany’s economy is developing rapidly and Berlin is forced to pursue a more precise energy policy."
The House of Representatives of the US Congress had passed the law "On sanctions against the Russian Federation" on July 25.
Sec. 232 of the law concerns the sanctions with respect to the development of pipelines in the Russian Federation.
Interdiction under the sanctions of the loans, licenses and bank transactions may lead to the "freezing" of the "Northern Stream 2" project.
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