MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2020) The thirteenth European Gas Conference is set to get underway in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Monday, with the three-day summit of leading figures in the European gas market set to discuss key topics such as the recent signing of a transit deal between Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz.
Representatives from Europe's gas giants, such as Russia's Gazprom, Austria's OMV and France's Total will travel to the Austrian capital for three days of discussions at the Vienna Marriott Hotel. Alongside the Russia-Ukraine gas deal, leading figures will set out Europe's gas strategy, which looks set to include an increasing reliance on liquefied natural gas, building relationships between the industry and the European Commission, and new methods of financing.
In 2019, Gazprom Export Director General Elena Burmistrova gave Gazprom's traditional keynote at the twelfth European Gas Conference. Burmistrova discussed Gazprom's growing relationship with Europe and the need to keep the gas industry apolitical, a message that was shared by Florian Ermacora of the European Commission.
This year, the chairman of Gazprom's board of directors Viktor Zubkov will deliver Gazprom's first keynote on Tuesday. Burmistrova and Deputy Chairman of Gazprom's Management Committee Oleg Aksyutin will also deliver keynotes in the session scheduled to take place on Tuesday morning.
On December 30, Russia and Ukraine signed a package of documents ensuring the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine starting from January 1. According to the contract, Gazprom will deliver at least 65 billion cubic meters (over 2 trillion cubic feet) in 2020 and 40 billion cubic meters per year in the next four years.
