Claude Mandil, the IEA’s executive director, explained the agency’s findings at an energy conference in London hosted by Reuters.
We are afraid that Gazprom will not have, in the coming years, enough gas to supply even their existing customers and existing contracts. This is our data, IEA executive director Claude Mandil told delegates. Gazprom is not investing enough.
While Gazprom has reportedly disputed the IEA’s findings, the company was unwilling to work with the agency to assess them. Mr Mandil added that the problem of Gazprom’s declining indigenous output was not aided by the firm’s dominance as the major buyer of central Asian gas – for example, Gazprom is the sole recipient of Turkmen gas which it uses to supply customers in Siberia. Gas produced in Siberia, meanwhile, is shipped abroad.
This reliance on central Asian sources is partly to blame for hindering further investment in Russian gas E&P, the IEA believes. The body has called for the creation of a Russian energy regulator to intervene on the issue.
