Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent
PARIS, Feb. 3 -- The role of geopolitics has "made a significant comeback on the oil and gas scene," said Institut Français du Pétrole Pres. Olivier Appert at a press conference in Paris before IFP's annual Panorama.
Recent events in Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and even Bolivia, where leaders are exerting political influence over oil and gas supply, have made international consumers uneasy, Appert noted.
Acknowledging European tension over Russian gas supply following the price crisis with Ukraine and explosions of a pipeline to Georgia, Appert said state-owned Gazprom is trying to raise prices of still-undervalued sales to Russia's former Soviet satellites.
"Hydrocarbons are Russia's remaining arm to hoist it back to its former great power status," he said. "But this policy should not be turned against the European Union, which is its largest client. At this stage, Russia needs Europe, which accounts for 80% of Gazprom's revenues, as much as Europe needs its gas. If it plays the geopolitical game too often, it could, in the long run, lose the EU market to LNG or perhaps to nuclear."
Appert said Russia hopes to get closer to the US and Asian markets. But it now needs European buyers, from which it receives its highest prices under long-term contracts linked to the price of oil.
