Although global energy demand has declined, Russia believes it will eventually return to previous levels, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Putin is in Helsinki taking part in the Baltic Sea Action Summit (BSAS) and discussing bilateral cooperation with Finnish, Lithuanian, Danish and Norwegian top officials. He said Russia would synchronize with market demand large-scale energy projects, including the development of new deposits.
The Russian head of government said the structure of energy consumption was unlikely to change in the next 15–20 years despite the development of alternative energy sources. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, neither solar energy nor firewood nor dried manure will be able to replace hydrocarbons in the next 15 to 20 years," Putin said during a meeting with his Finnish counterpart, Matti Vanhanen. Vanhanen said demand for alternative energy sources was bound to increase in the future. "In fact, the situation on world gas markets has changed," he said, adding that this primarily applied to liquefied natural gas. "I personally believe that demand for piped gas will remain at the current level," Vanhanen said.
Earlier in the day, Putin made a pitch for the Nord Stream project, to pipe gas from Siberia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, as absolutely reliable and environmentally safe. "I am sure that Nord Stream will become an environmentally safe, reliable and continuous route for hydrocarbon supplies to Europe, enhancing the energy stability of the European continent as a whole," he said. He added that environmental security had been a priority for the project from day one. The Russian head of government said some 100 million euros had been spent on environmental impact assessment in an area of over 40,000 square kilometers.
