GTT Board Adds Two Directors
GTT announced that its Board of Directors met on October 14th and appointed two new members, Andrew Jamieson and, following the proposal of ENGIE, Benoît Mignard. They are succeeding respectively to Laurent Maurel and Olivier Jacquier, both resigning from their mandate. As a reminder, Sandra Lagumina was also following the proposal of ENGIE, appointed by the Board of Directors that met on the 21th of July. She succeeded to Secil Torun. Andrew Jamieson and Benoît Mignard will be joining the Compensation and Nominations Committee and the Audit and Risk Management Committee respectively.
Norway Mulls Support for Statoil Project
Norway will ask European competition authorities whether it can provide state support to energy firm Statoil to bring oil and gas to the shore from its Johan Castberg field in the Arctic, the oil minister said on Tuesday. Statoil initially favoured piping the oil to an onshore loading terminal, but deemed it too expensive and said pumping it onto tankers at sea might be a more viable option. "Bringing it to the shore ensures the best resource management and the greatest benefits to the Finnmark county, so that the Norwegian people get the most out of it," oil minister Tord Lien told an oil conference.
Shell-BG Deal Tests China's Antitrust Pledge
Royal Dutch Shell's $70 billion bid for BG Group Plc will put to the test a pledge by China's antitrust regime to be more transparent, after it faced strong criticism last year from the United States and Europe. China's nascent competition law has become one of the biggest wildcards for large cross-border deals in recent years, particularly where natural resources are concerned. In 2013, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said miner Xstrata had to sell off a prized Peruvian copper project in order for its $35 billion merger with Glencore to proceed, despite neither company owning any assets in China at the time.
Germany Says Idea of EU Gas Buyers Cartel Cannot Work
Norway and its main gas buyer in the European Union, Germany, agree that there is no need to establish a gas buyer's cartel in Europe, officials said on Friday. The idea of EU buying natural gas as a group was first put forward by Poland's then-prime minister Donald Tusk, the current EU president, as an option to stand up to Russia and its state gas company Gazprom. However, many critics have argued that such a move would breach EU competition law. "We don't favour any single buyer concept, or anything like that," Rainer Baake, Germany's deputy economy minister, told journalists after meeting with Norwegian Energy Minister Tord Lien.
Imtech: Investigating Fraud Allegations
Dutch engineering and construction firm Imtech is investigating allegations it operated a cartel to overcharge German energy company RWE for the building of a power plant in the Netherlands. The allegations, detailed in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and German newspaper Handelsblatt on Thursday, follow earlier allegations of accounting fraud at its German and Polish operations. The company put out a statement late on Tuesday in response to questions put to it by the two newspapers in which it mentioned "allegations of possible competition law violations" on "two projects in the energy sector" between 2008 and 2010 without going into further detail.
Austria Hopes EU Objections to South Stream Resolved in Next Month
Austria is hoping differences with the European Commission over the South Stream pipeline project can be resolved in the next month or so, allowing the plan to move ahead, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said on Friday. Plans to build the $40 billion pipeline carrying enough Russian gas to meet almost 15 pecent of European demand while bypassing Ukraine have divided EU member states and run into opposition from the Commission. The European Union had effectively put the pipeline project on ice after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsular…
Russia Going Ahead with South Stream Gas Pipeline
The Russia-led South Stream undersea gas pipeline is still going ahead, Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying on Saturday, following concerns the European Union might be losing enthusiasm for the project. The natural gas pipeline, which will cost an estimated $40 billion, is designed to carry Russian gas to the centre of Europe on a route that bypasses crisis-hit Ukraine. The project has yet to be approved by the EU, which is trying to become less dependent on Russian gas. Supplies from Russia currently account for about a third of EU gas imports.
Bulgaria: South Stream Pipeline Deals Break No EU Rules
Bulgaria did not breach EU law when it signed deals for the construction of the Russian-led South Stream gas pipeline, the government said on Wednesday, dismissing Brussels' objections to a project that has spurred tensions between Moscow and the West. South Stream, expected to cost about $40 billion, will carry Russian gas to central Europe via the Black Sea, bypassing Ukraine and reducing that country's importance as a transit route. Earlier this month, the European Commission asked EU member Bulgaria to halt work on its section of the planned pipeline on the grounds that the project broke EU law.
Gazprom Says EU South Stream Dialogue Constructive
Russia's Gazprom is in constructive talks with the European Commission about its disputed South Stream gas pipeline, its chief executive said after signing a deal on Tuesday with OMV to extend a branch to Austria. Alexei Miller said he was in weekly if not daily contact with European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger. "We solve problems as they come up, and now the problem of construction of the pipeline is to be solved," Miller told a news conference. The signing took place in Vienna as Russian President Vladimir Putin flew in to the Austrian capital for a one-day working visit, only his second to an EU country since Russia annexed Crimea.
Ukraine Crisis Spurs East Mediterranean Gas Hopes
Europe's scramble for alternatives to Russian fuel as the crisis over energy transit state Ukraine rages has revived hopes that East Mediterranean gas can be shipped into the European Union. Policymakers have even gone as far as to hope new gas routes could help to end years of bitter feuding over a divided Cyprus and galvanise some of Europe's most economically weak countries. EU energy ministers meeting in Athens on Thursday and Friday will debate shipment routes for East Mediterranean gas as one of the options ahead of an EU summit next month, when the European Commission will submit an analysis of the issue.
