Cyprus, Greece and Israel could play an important role in securing the EU’s energy resources, reports Politis.

In the course of discussions on May 22, the European Council examined “the question of a more systematic recourse to on-shore and off-shore indigenous sources of energy,” which could include the building of a gas pipeline linking the three countries to the rest of Europe, explains the daily.

Cypriot President Antonis Anastasiades expressed his ambition to make his country an “energy hub” for Europe.

At the European Council summit on May 22, national leaders of member states will likely approve a change of course on Europe’s energy policy.

As Der Standard points out —

Whereas in recent years the emphasis has been on the development of renewables and climate protection, the priority will now be on the lowering of energy costs […] with a view to boosting growth and job creation. Low energy prices will play a decisive role in reinforcing competitiveness.

The newspaper adds that proposals for greater investment in nuclear power will also be on the agenda for the summit, where “France and Great Britain will be advocating a resumption of subsidies for atomic energy.”

The London offices of oil giants BP and Shell were raided on May 15 by investigators from the European Commission probing allegations that companies were manipulating the price of crude oil.

This is the latest investigation into price fixing in the UK, following probes into the manipulation of the Libor interest rate and gas prices, writes The Independent, adding that:

the EC’s decisive action escalated a campaign that has been gathering momentum in recent months, after a report for the G20 last summer found that the market is wide open to ‘manipulation or distortion’.

Days after North American companies Marathon Oil and Talisman Energy stopped shale gas fracking in Poland, news emerges that the country’s chief geologist and deputy environment minister Piotr Woźniak spoke out against US companies investing in shale gas extraction in Poland, claims Rzeczpospolita.

The daily quotes a confidential memo by an employee of an embassy of “one of the interested countries”, which was written after a private meeting held in Warsaw on March 13 with 130 investors, businessmen and diplomats in which the politician is reported to have made the comments.

Meanwhile another participant quoted by the daily argues that

People responsible for the energy sector are pushing ahead with the idea of keeping the energy industry in Polish hands.

Romania has taken a “discreet” step towards shale gas extraction, announces Jurnalul naţional. On April 29, the Environment Ministry gave the green light to foreign energy companies, including US giant Chevron, to explore by possible reserves in the south-eastern Dobrogea region.

The decision “has wrong-footed the public, who expected a public debate, and more importantly a presentation of environmental impact studies” before any such move, writes the daily, which quotes government minister, Rovana Plumb —

All the EU countries need energy independence and shale gas extraction is one means of attaining this goal.

The minister adds that “the exploration phase does not represent a risk to the environment, because there is no use of hydraulic fracturing technology” in the process of identifying potential reserves of the unconventional hydrocarbon, which can be found several thousand metres underground.

In response to the news, the Vama Verde environmental group announced that it would organise a protest in Vama Veche, in the Dobrogea region, and further demonstrations are planned for the end of the month.

Romania is following the example of Poland and the United Kingdom, the two European countries which have committed to shale gas exploration. Others, like France, have introduced a moratorium on the issue.

The European Union is planning to impose import taxes on Chinese-made solar panel equipment in a move which is likely to trigger “one of the largest trade battles of recent decades,” writes the business daily.

The duties, which will include solar panels, their primary components, solar cells and silicon wafers, are expected to average 46 per cent, according to the newspaper’s sources, and are intended to protect solar equipment manufacturing firms within Europe from a tide of cheap Chinese imports. They could be imposed as early as June 5.

Dozens of European firms have closed since China entered the market six years ago, amid claims by European manufacturers that Chinese firms receive illegal state subsidies.

Europe is the world’s largest solar panel market and in 2011, China controlled 80 per cent of the European market, trade that was worth around €21bn or about 7 per cent of China’s total exports to Europe, reports the paper.

Germany’s new energy policy “is a curse,” argues Handelsblatt, which reports that instead of causing shortages, the 2011 decision to abandon nuclear power resulted in an overproduction of solar and wind power, which saturated the country’s grid.

The reports from the official body which monitors the system read “like a thriller,” points out the business daily, which cites a number of extracts —

The safety of the network was no longer guaranteed. [...] We had to intervene more than 40 times to disconnect entire power stations and wind parks, which endangered the safety of the system. The stress generated by these situations was increasingly difficult to manage.

In 2012, some 23 per cent of the electricity produced in Germany was sourced from renewables, and the plan is to increase this figure to 80 per cent by 2050.

Five years after its launch in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, "Desertec is showing few results," notes German news website Spiegel Online.

The project hoped to exploit the solar and wind potential of deserts to supply sustainable energy world-wide. However, the plan is now coming under criticism, especially by the residents of the desert regions in question, who, according to several human rights organisations, are now wondering what the project is actually doing for them.

These groups are demanding a greater say for the local populations in the project, which Spiegel Online says was designed "in the back rooms of the Club of Rome [...] a think-tank of old men pondering on how to save the world."

"After the Arab Spring, we want to respond to the demands for greater justice and shared decision-making. We must include civil society, that is the only way Desertec will succeed," explains a spokesperson for Germanwatch, a climate change NGO.

The website also stresses that the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), launched in 2009 by a private consortium of banks and energy providers to develop the project in North Africa and the Middle East, faces growing competition. British firm Nur Energie plans to open a 2,000 Megawatt solar power plant in Tunisia in 2015. The electricity produced will be exported to Italy.

The project manager says it is moving ahead –

Tunisian partners have been found, the accords with the Italian groups are ready to be signed [...] and many elements can be manufactured on site. Sixty per cent of the full investment can stay in the country and the creation of 1,000 jobs is expected.

"In 2012, Germany once again exported more electricity than it imported," reports Spiegel Online. It exported 66.6 TWh (terawatt hours) compared to the 43.8 TWh which were imported, according to figures published by the Federal Statistics Office.

This 22.8 TWh surplus, worth some €1.4bn, corresponds "to the annual production of two large nuclear power plants. [...] No other European country exported as much electricity as Germany," continues Stern Online.

These figures are unexpected given that Germany began to withdraw from nuclear power in 2011. Eight of Germany's 17 plants were shut down after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan in March 2011.

Yet, due to the rise in electricity supplied by solar and wind energy, whose share in the energy mix rose by 23 per cent in 2012, the energy surplus has quadrupled and the country earned €1.4bn in energy export sales.

Many experts had feared an electricity shortage "but the rise in exports shows that there is more electricity than is needed and that available capacity, including the maximum energy available in case of added demand, is sufficient," Der Speigel notes. German electricity is mostly exported to the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.

The UK has only two days worth of gas reserves after freezing temperatures across northern Europe boosted demand in recent weeks by 20 per cent.

The country is racing to import gas from Europe and experts warn any technical problems could leave Britain struggling to cope.

“Britain is more vulnerable than the rest of Europe to gas shortages because it has historically relied on the North Sea, where production is now dwindling. When full, the country’s stocks can hold only a supply of 15 days, compared with more than 100 days in France and Germany,” explains the daily.

The Romanian Ministry of Economy wants to back off from building Romania’s fifth nuclear reactor plant, Cernavodă, on the Danube, reveals România Liberă. The newspaper explains –

The CANDU technology CANDU 700, is a second generation reactor and, will by EU standards, be obsolete in 2025, the date it could go onstream. Other factors are the increase in the number of security measures following the Fukushima accident, the very low flow of the Danube, which has prompted the shutdown of the plant in the past, and finally, lack of money.

According to the Bucharest daily, the reactor would have allowed the country to meet more than 40 per cent of its needs. Units 3 and 4, which are in an advanced stage of construction, do meet European standards.

"Government greenlights fracking," announces El País, following the March 1 approval by the Spanish parliament of a bill which will facilitate the use of the controversial technique for the extraction shale gas, which has already been contested by affected municipalities and environemental groups. According to estimates, Spain’s unconventional gas reserves, which have been valued at €700bn, are sufficient to supply 39 years of domestic consumption, and companies in the sector have announced that, over the next few years, they are planning to invest between €700m and €1bn to develop this resource. For El País “there is no incontrovertible reason to outlaw” its development Spain, if “the collateral impact on the environment is subject to strict controls.” However, the newspaper also reports that opinion on fracking remains divided —

For some, this gas extraction technique will needlessly turn Spain into a kind of gruyère cheese. For others, it amounts to a golden opportunity for a country that imports 99 per cent of the hydrocarbons it consumes.

Division over the issue is also prevalent in Europe, adds the Madrid daily —

Europe has no common legislation on the environmental conditions that should apply for the use of this controversial method, and apparently this is not about to be rectified anytime soon. There are glaring divisions between countries, and even between the responsible [European] Commissioners. France, Ireland and Bulgaria have imposed moratoriums on fracking. Poland has resolutely backed the method. [And] to date, the reports presented both by the European Commission and the European Parliament have reached divergent conclusions.

The European Commission has announced the opening of an investigation to establish if German industry benefits from state aid that distorts fair competition.

Since 2011, German firms, which consume large amounts of power, have not been obliged to pay for electricity network licences — an advantage that has enabled them to save €805m.

The Commission launched the procedure in the wake of complaints from consumer and energy supply associations.

Moscow is attempting to block the extraction of Romanian shale gas, which would reduce the reliance of the country and European Union on Russian energy, points out the daily.

At the end of January, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta changed his postion on the issue, having previously announced in the spring of 2012 that he was opposed to drilling.

“A Russian hand” is apparently behind the protests in Bârlad, in eastern Romania, where more than 8,000 people demonstrated on February 27.

Ahead of the parliamentary elections next September, the biggest EU country joins the anti-shale gas coalition and hurries to draw up regulations restricting the use of shale gas technology, reports the Warsaw daily, which quotes an interview with Chancellor Angela Merkel published by Straubinger Tagblatt.

“This is a replay of the French scenario, where shale gas exploration was banned 18 months before the presidential election”, explains Gazeta Wyborcza. The newspaper points out that “the anti-shale gas coalition in Paris and Berlin will strengthen the faction of EU politicians opposed to exploration of these deposits, which may have a negative impact on plans to extract shale gas in Poland”.

Czech electricity group ČEZ might lose 10bn crowns (€400m) worth of investment in Bulgaria, after the Sofia government announced it will revoke the company’s licence.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov ordered the licence be cancelled in an effort to calm 10 days of violent protests against high energy prices, by promising on February 19 to slash electricity bills and punish foreign-owned power companies for their high prices.

"Will shale gas poison Belgian competiveness in the years to come?" wonders the Belgian daily. The emergence of shale gas, especially in the United States, coupled with a decline in European demand, has lowered the cost of gas.

This, in turn, has led to a fall in the price of coal. As a result, European utility companies are switching from gas to coal – a more polluting energy – to produce electricity. Add to that the drop in the price of carbon credits in Europe, which have plummeted from a 2008 high of €35 for a tonne of carbon dioxide to under €5 a few weeks ago, "it now costs nothing to pollute," Le Soir concludes.

"Oil firms such as Shell are targeting Europe," says the daily newspaper. After foraging last year in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the Anglo-Dutch company is now interested in Belgium.

Shell plans to invest €100,000 to prospect for shale gas in the eastern Liège region and in the north-eastern Campine area. Other oil firms are also showing an interest, among them British firm Cuadrilla and Germany's Wintershall.

National subsidy schemes for the renewable energy sector have created an imbalance, which has weakened the competitiveness of traditional thermal energy, according to the European Commission.

As a result, Brussels plans to regulate and harmonise national subsidies to green energy and to define a European subsidy structure by 2020.

On January 31, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the development of economic relations between their countries.

Russia is Hungary’s second biggest trading partner, after Germany, and collaboration between Budapest and Moscow is set to grow, especially in the energy sector, with the routing of the South Stream gas pipeline through Hungary.

Nearly 5.5m tons of high quality uranium ore is thought to lie under Jahodná, just 15km from Slovakia’s second biggest city, Košice. The government has already signed a provisional deal on extraction with a Canadian mining company, which performed exploratory drilling.

The daily notes that opponents of mining in Košice, a popular holiday resort, say “it is a dirty trick against the local administration and Košice’s inhabitants who have already expressed their unhappiness with extraction.”

German Environment Minister Peter Altmeier wants to counter the steep increase in electricity prices prompted by the government’s pro-renewables energy policy. The law on the promotion of alternative energies has boosted the use of renewables from 8 to 23 per cent of power production. However, taxes paid by consumers to finance wind and solar development are expected to reach €20bn in 2013.

In the run-up to elections this year, the minister wants to freeze the tax to prevent a reductive focus on the cost to households from distorting the debate on renewables. The green energy sector has denounced the move as a “a fatal blow”.

Called on to decide if “Bulgaria should further develop nuclear energy with the construction of a new atomic power station”, 61 per cent of those who voted answered “yes” in the country’s 27 January referendum. However, only 20 per cent of the electorate went to the polls, and the outcome of the first ever popular vote in the history of post-communist Bulgaria has been deemed invalid for failing to attract a minimum turnout of 60 per cent. The decision to hold a referendum had been prompted by controversy over the construction of a second nuclear power station at Belene in the north of the country, following a decision to suspend work on the project in 2012.

Although advocates and opponents of the power station have hailed the outcome of the vote as a victory, Trud argues that the result amounts to "a defeat for everyone". For the daily, the country’s first ever exercise of direct democracy has turned out to be a fiasco which will be regretted by Bulgaria’s citizens. It is also a setback for the left-wing opposition, which had campaigned for a vote, because it proved to be unable to mobilise the electorate. Finally, the result is bad for the right, which is opposed to the project, because those who voted approved of the power station.

We came very close to "a total fiasco", remarks Standart, which notes that the 20 per cent turnout will at least enable the initiators of the referendum to obtain "a debate on the issue of the construction of a second power station in the country’s next parliament".

But how should the lack of interest in the issue be explained? The Bulgarian media has remarked on the "politicisation" of the referendum, which has widely been seen as a prelude to general elections to be held this summer.

Earthquakes close to natural gas drilling sites in Groningen in northern Netherlands have apparently become more frequent and more intense. An official study published on January 25 estimates that the quakes could reach 4 or 5 degrees on the Richter scale.

The state mining monitoring authority has recommended a reduction in the amount of drilling. On a visit to the region, the Minister for Economic Affairs took the view that this would be “irresponsible from an economic point of view”. In 2011, the gas field generated revenues of €11.5 billion for the state, and it currently supplies gas for 97% of Dutch homes.

Ireland, which took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union on January 1, may have found a way out of the crisis thanks to off-shore petrol. The idea has taken hold in Dublin since a bout of "black gold fever in Cork" notes Spanish daily La Vanguardia caused by the discovery of oil deposits in the Irish Sea. Ireland's second largest city is now "awaiting an economic boom" with the idea "fostering dreams" in a country deeply hit by the crisis, the paper says, adding –

Representatives from ExxonMobil, Texaco and other major oil companies lunch in the city's pubs and restaurants on the banks of the River Lee, just like, in Dublin, where the members of The Troika [Ireland's creditors, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank]. But in this case, the intention is to invest and not to dictate their lending conditions.

The deposit, called the Barryfoe Field, is estimated at 280 million barrels worth €30 billion. There is only one detail yet to be resolved – where to find the €1.5 billion needed to exploit the deposit. Gathering these funds is the goal of a company called Providence, created by the local tycoon and former rugby player Tony O'Reilly. He says he wants to make Cork "one of the most prosperous cities in Europe". La Vanguardia says –

In the past, oil deposits were found in the Irish Sea, but their high exploitation costs made them unprofitable. The situation today is much more favourable because of the development of cheaper extraction techniques, the rise in the price of petrol and the low taxes on foreign firms investing in Ireland (the country has the lowest corporate tax rate in Europe, a constant source of friction with Brussels). Cork, the European headquarters for Apple and the site of US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer's Viagra factory hopes to move to the next level and join the major league economic and financial big hitters. It hopes to become to Ireland what Aberdeen has become to Scotland and that the petrol from the Irish Sea will provide the same benefits as that provided by the North Sea. With [global] oil use reaching 88 million barrels per day and with a thirst for it so insatiable that environmental considerations are unable to quench it, this is not just wishful thinking.

It could be curtains for the European Union's most ambitious attempt to ensure independent access to a crucial raw material – natural gas. To the point that for the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, it is already time to write "an obituary for Nabucco," the gas pipeline project meant to link the wells of the Caspian Sea to Europe by way of Turkey.

Already undermined by Russia's progress in competing the South Stream project as well as by the lack of both investment and agreements with supplier countries, the €15 billion project could be fatally hit by news published in the weekly magazine Focus saying that Germany's RWE Group, the principal investor in the project, plans to withdrawn at the end of the year. Its 16.67 per cent share could be bought by Austria's OWE. For the Süddeutsche Zeitung –

This fiasco shows, once again, how Europe lacks a response to Russian domination in the raw materials sector. For a long time the gas pipeline was seen as the example of failed European industrial and energy policies. Because although spurred by words, it garnered little concrete financial or political support.

“Green energy providers wants to make coal," leads Tageszeitung, punning on the German word for “coal”, which also means “money”. The Berlin daily, always fretting about environmental issues, reveals that the three biggest renewable electricity distributors in Germany – Lichtblick, Greenpeace Energy and Naturstrom – may soon be going for coal. In fact, all three buy electricity from the Austrian company Verbund AG, which since 2011 has been building a coal-fired plant in Turkey, while continuing to proclaim that its power remains “100% hydroelectric”.

This is highly embarrassing for the three German companies, notes Tageszeitung, citing studies that find that “the emissions from the Turkish plant exceed the limit values defined by the EU and the World Health Organisation.” For the TAZ, it’s time to act –

Whoever wants to remain credible as a green energy supplier should not be signing contracts with such companies – especially when the business plan of the entire company is based on positioning oneself as a moral leader.

The production of energy from renewable sources in Germany is also worrying its neighbours: “The Czech Republic intends to prevent the collapse of its electricity network and protect against surplus green energy production caused by erratic wind farms in the north of Germany,” writes Lidové Noviny. Because of the weakness of the German power grid, the Prague daily explains, wind farm energy produced in Germany's north and destined for the south is routed via the Czech grid, putting its capacity under strain. To protect against power surges, ČEPS, which operates the Czech network –

... has decided to build a giant transformer near the border. It will not let more current onto the Czech power grid than the grid can support and [...] will enter service by 2017.

Is Europe preparing cuts in the green energy sector? EU Energy Commmissioner, Günther Oettinger, is about to send “an electric shock from Brussels,” headlines Süddeutsche Zeitung. According to the Munich daily, Oettinger wants “to review national subsidy systems for certain energy resources”.

The commissioner, annoyed by the provincialism of the 27 EU member states, rails at every opportunity against growing nationalism in the electricity sector. And much to the dismay of environmentalists, he particularly disapproves of the unregulated proliferation of green energy subsidies. Member states may soon face a ban on domestic subsidy initiatives, including some that are already well established. For Germany, the law on the promotion of alternative energies, which prompted a boom in wind and solar power as well as a hike in electricity prices in recent years, could be at stake.

According to the Munich daily, the examination of state subsidies will form part of a “prestigious project to provide the EU with an internal energy market” by 2014, which member states have been slow to embrace. The market is supposed to safeguard power supplies everywhere in Europe, and also to lower the cost of energy to consumers.

Solar power is one of the key technologies of the 21st Century and it is giving rise to such levels of greed that the European Union and China are behaving like "Solar Warriors" headlines German daily Frankfurter Rundschau. The paper forecasts that this could be "the greatest trade conflict in history".

The dispute centres on the subsidies Beijing provides to the Chinese solar industry. The Europeans say these are unfair and excessive. Chinese manufacturers of photovoltaic technology thus benefit from several billion dollars in credit for which they do not have to provide significant collateral. Thanks to this cosy arrangement, the paper says, they –

…have managed, in just a few years, not only to catch up with the Europeans but to outstrip them. They now deliver the same quality goods but for 30% cheaper. [...] More than 80% of the modules installed in Europe today come from China.

Jolted by the failure of one of the industry's leaders, German firm Q-Cells, the Europeans are responding. Led by another German firm, SolarWorld, a European solar manufacturers' group, has filed a suit with the European Commission charging China with "price dumping". The complaint is being investigated and Brussels could decide to issue sanctions in the coming months. But, the paper points out –

...the effects will be enormous. With a 70% share, Europe is by far the largest market for photovoltaic technology. Faced with that, China is flexing its muscles and brandishing the threat of a suit against European producers of silicon, one of the components in solar cells.

The conflict does not end there. According to rumours, some Chinese representatives warned European auto manufacturers that a boycott on solar would have extremely negative consequences for them. This escalation worries Frankfurter Rundschau, which remarks  –

If China decides to be conciliatory and reins in its state-owned businesses, all can end well. In the worst case, a global trade war looms ahead.

“Not many people know that over-indebted Greece is an oil-producing country: although not a very big one, with only 2,000 barrels a day or 0.5% of its oil needs”, points out Le Monde which goes on to explain that Athens has decided to resume oil and gas exploration of reserves that have hitherto been disregarded.

“In recent months, the Greek government has launched calls for tender for exploration in three regions where surveys and seismic studies were conducted at the end of the 1990s – in Ioannina in the north-west region of Epirus close to the Albanian border, and in the Ionian Sea.”

Major oil companies have been in no rush to bid for these deposits which are estimated at between 50 and 100 million barrels. However –

… it’s the vast expanse of Greek waters close to Crete that is now the subject of high hopes following the discovery of gas in Israel and Cyprus. A Norwegian company Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has recently been selected to conduct maritime seismic studies in a 220,000  square kilometre area, which should go on for 18 months.”

In another “rare piece of good news” for the crisis stricken country, “Greece is to become Europe’s leading gold producer”, reports La Tribune. Emphasising that Greece already has “major mining potential” (bauxite, perlite), the business daily explains that –

“... in 2016, Greece could become Europe’s leading gold producer, overtaking Finland, which is currently the 40th-ranked supplier worldwide”.

Paradoxical as it may seem, the main reason for the increase in production is the economic crisis which has led Athens to speed up the granting of mining concessions, and to set aside a policy that  “was largely based on clientelism”. Now that they have been licensed, the projects proposed by two mining companies – Canadian based Eldorado Gold and Australia’s Glory Resources – are set to boost Greek gold production, which is expected “to soar from 16,000 ounces [1 ounce = 31.1g] in 2011 to 425,000 ounces by 2016”, while generating large numbers of jobs.

Today, October 4, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger is to present the results of “stress tests”, carried out in the wake of the Fukushima disaster of March 2011, of the safety of the 134 nuclear reactors in the states of the EU. The tests highlight many failures, and estimates of the cost of the work needed to bring the nuclear power plants of the Old Continent up to international safety standards run to between 10 and 25 billion euros. The findings have already spurred lively debates in the member states.

Le Monde remarks on “tension between Paris and Brussels,” since France, the main producer of electricity from nuclear power in Europe, with 58 reactors in 19 nuclear power stations, is singled out for criticism in the Commission’s report –

In the Netherlands, Trouw reports that its Borssele plant “failed the safety test.”

“The results in from Borselle, however, are not so bad compared to other plants in Europe,” writes the newspaper, referring not just to “a nuclear superpower like France” but to plants in eastern Europe and to four plants in Finland and Sweden, where the cooling systems are not up to standards – “running the risk of a Fukushima-type scenario (a meltdown).”

Belgium, however, has been congratulated by the Commission for its way of “communicating the flaws in the Doel and Tihange plants,” explained an academic who had sat on the Commission, in an interview with Trouw. The two plants were shut down this summer because of cracks in the tanks of two reactors. The Commission’s report does not mention this problem, as “the test did not address that.”

In Berlin, Die Welt holds that “the real scandal is the impotence of the EU.” The newspaper is outraged that the EU has sent a group of experts travelling around the continent for months to check the nuclear plants one by one, while “the facts have been on the table for a long time. A call to the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] would have been enough.”� What’s more –

"The sharp rise in tensions between the European Commission and Russian oil giant Gazprom is worrying the countries of Central Asia because they are highly dependent on their exports to the EU of gas and oil," explains Swiss daily Le Temps. The attitude of not provoking Moscow on subjects as sensitive as gas and oil in order to insure a stability that benefits everyone is defended in the capitals of some former Soviet republics. Astana is one of these. "Kazakhstan is trying to increase its participation in three major Western oil consortiums: Chevron, Shell and Total," the paper notes.

Furthermore, "the authoritarian regime of its wealthy president [Nursultan Nazarbayev] is concerned that a European investigation into Gazprom would, by ricochet, entice Brussels to later take a look at the practices of Central Asian energy companies," Le Temps stresses.

In addition Astana wants to continue diversifying its client base. "Kazakhstan fears that a new energy crisis between Moscow (its main partner for transport and refining) and Brussels (its principal client) will benefit Beijing", Kazakhstan's other major oil purchaser, the paper says. But Astana does not want to be tied to a single client.

As far as Europe is concerned, a former advisor to the Commission issued this warning in the pages of Le Temps –

The real energy challenge for the [Member States], remains having a common long-term  policy and ensuring that European oil giants, in Central Asia and elsewhere, do not act against the interests of the 500 million oil and gas consumers in the Union.

The European Commission has announced the opening of an investigation into Gazprom, suspected of “anti-competition practices in Central and Eastern Europe," reveals Adevărul. Brussels is seeking to establish whether the Russian gas giant is abusing its dominant position in the upstream markets in order to shut out its European competitors, the Romanian daily writes.

In particular, Gazprom is suspected of disrupting the flow of gas between Member States, attempting to thwart the diversification of sources of supply, and of imposing unfair prices on its customers by indexing the price of gas to the price of petroleum.

In Germany, the Financial Times Deutschland writes that the proceedings initiated by the Commission –

... are a new stage in the dispute over gas between Russia and the EU. Europeans want to reduce their dependence on imports of Russian gas, and Brussels has long sought to promote competitiveness.

To do so, the Commission would like to set up an internal market to permit the free flow of gas between EU members. Gazprom is suspected of trying to obstruct such a market.

"On average,” the FTD notes, “a quarter of the EU's gas comes from Russia", while some eastern European countries depend entirely on Gazprom, half of whose profits come from Europe.

"Already in 1979, Doel had cracks," reveals Belgian daily De Morgen. The Flemish-language newspaper is astonished that the reasons leading to the closure of the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 nuclear power plants – cracks in the reactor vessel – were known to the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) at the time they went on line 33 years ago. "Minor errors often happen, in general they are harmless," FANC director Willy De Roovere told the paper, adding that he "doesn't remember very well" the circumstances under which he was induced to give the green light to the plants.

Faced with so much risk to both safety and to energy supply, De Morgen editor-in-chief Wouter Verschelden calls for "the need for thorough and proper monitoring regarding the safety of nuclear plants." He also called for the creation of a new regulatory agency with a "serious director" and for the end of utility company Electrabel's monopoly on Belgian nuclear energy. According to Verschelden, the company "exploits a quasi gold mine at Doel and Tihange" and has no interest in changing a situation which, from its point of view, "nears perfection".

“Alert at a dozen nuclear reactors”, headlines La Tribune. The business daily explains that tests will have to be carried out at a number of European reactors, in the wake of the discovery of “suspected cracks” in the core tank of the No. 3 reactor at Belgium’s Doel power station.

La Tribune points out that, according to the Belgian nuclear safety agency –

… the Rotterdam Drydock Company [the manufacturer of the defective tanks], which is no longer in business, supplied 20 tanks of this type to several countries, in addition to the two tanks that were installed in Belgian reactors at Doel 3 and Tihange 2. The countries that took the tanks included Germany (in two reactors), Spain (2), the Netherlands (2), Sweden (1) and Switzerland (2).

With regard to the situation in Belgium, Le Monde explains that the nature of the faults in the tank “will have to be determined by additional tests” that will require “months of work”. As a result, Doel 3 will be suspended, as will Tihange 2, close to Liège, which has similar equipment installed.

According to Le Monde, in the event of –

… a permanent halt [of Doel 3 and Thiange 2], the country, which depends on nuclear power for 51% of its electricity, will be in difficulty.

A permanent halt could also seriously disrupt the Belgian government's plan to phase out nuclear power between 2016 and 2025.

“Green power stations overtake coal and nuclear,” announces Hospodářské Noviny. The Czech business daily explains that the rapid growth of renewable energy production in Germany has radically modified the energy sector in Central Europe.

In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the dangers associated with nuclear power as well as its cost and the difficulty in processing nuclear waste have persuaded Angela Merkel’s Germany to change its energy strategy. Today 20% of the country’s energy is sourced from renewables and that figure is set to increase.

As a result, Hospodářské Noviny notes that –

… in Central Europe, the increase in German renewable energy production has begun to take market share from fossil fuels and nuclear, while cutting the profits and reducing the stock market value of energy companies.

The Czech government, which has been notably affected by this change, has decided to shelve a policy of encouraging Green energies (solar, wind, biomass), and, according to Hospodářské Noviny, to suspend all clean energy incentives by 2014. At the same time, however, the strategy adopted by national power company ČEZ, which plans to build two more reactors at the Temelín nuclear power plant – a move that will make nuclear ultimately responsible for 55% of the country’s power needs – has increasingly been criticised by analysts.

Other European energy sector giants, most notably German firms, have been affected by the falling profits of traditional power companies, points out the newspaper –

In 2008, E. ON shares were worth 51 euros: today the price has fallen to €17. At the same time, RWE shares, which were worth more than €100 euros before the crisis, are now trading at around €50.

Last year, notes the Prague daily, most specialists viewed this as a temporary situation, which may have been caused by the recession and the impact of German government policy which was increasingly anti-nuclear. However today, the business daily argues, it is clear that "the energy market is being marked by profound change".

“Poland demands free carbon allowances for ghost coal plants,” headlines Euractiv.com. The Brussels based news website has revealed that of the €7 billion of free carbon allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), Warsaw has been claiming €33 million for a coal plant which does not exist.

A Polish government official told EurActiv that the plant in Łęczna coal plant, near the Ukrainian border, falls into a category of sites for which “construction is in progress”. However –

... a 20 kilometre drive around the backwaters of Łęczna’s Stara Wieś-Stasin site on 5 July revealed a rural landscape of green fields, crop allotments, and country paths.

No buildings, installations or other power plant-related activity were evident at the coordinates for the installation submitted by the GDF Suez group to the regional authorities in June 2011.

Libya’s National Transitional Council has launched an inquiry into oil contracts signed with foreign companies during the last years of the Gaddafi era, Corriere della Sera reports. The investigation focuses on alleged corruption of Libyan officials from 2008 and 2011, and involves, among others, two of Europe’s largest energy firms, Italy’s ENI and France’s Total.

The inquiry comes in the week after the US Securities and Exchange Commission opened a similar procedure. If convicted, companies could face massive fines and see their current and future contracts with the new government declared null and void. According to the Wall Street Journal, the investigation “casts a cloud on the companies' ambitions to expand their foothold in the country with the largest oil reserves in Africa”.

ENI, in particular, was the biggest operator in Libya under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi and quickly recovered its lead after the regime change, with a current output share of about 14 per cent. The company was planning to invest over $30 billion (€22.9 billion) to double that figure over the next decade.

"The Poles fear German wind energy”, reports Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland. Since the shut-down of eight nuclear power stations a year in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, heavily industrialised southern Germany – a glutton for electricity – has suffered a perpetual shortage of power. Northern Germany, where the wind turbines are found, must send that energy south.

But there’s a problem with this, the Hamburg daily writes. On days of strong wind the north-south energy grid is saturated and the excess electricity is automatically shunted east, into Poland and the Czech Republic. The excess power, however, overloads those countries’ grids, which were designed for stable and continuous currents. Poland is therefore considering installing “phase shifters” at the border to turn back the electricity it does not need. If that were to happen the Germans would have to put some of their wind turbines on hold and, to fill the energy gap in the south, import nuclear energy from France.

The problem will get worse if the Czech Republic follows the example of Poland to protect its domestic grid, writes the FTD. For now, though, this small country, which is one of the major energy exporters to the rest of the EU, plans to invest 2.5 billion euros to upgrade its own network.

“We’ve got a problem: gas has evaporated,” headlines Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, commenting a report by the Polish State Geological Institute (PIG) published March 21 which suggests that Poland may have extractable shale gas deposits between 346 to 768 billion cubic metres, some 7 to 15 times less than previously estimated.

After last year’s assessments by US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which estimated Poland’s shale gas reserves at 5.3 trillion cubic metres, the news could dampen expectations that Poland could be independent of Russian gas imports for the next 300 years.

Rzeczpospolita warns that even though the maximum shale gas deposits in Poland may be still as high as 1.92 trillion cubic metres, the report may “curb the enthusiasm of Polish and international corporations to invest huge sums of money in prospecting licenses and test drilling”.

On a more positive note, the conservative daily observes that -

Although Poland may not become a leading global gas exporter, [the amounts of shale gas] that have been documented and determined as extractable would cover [the country’s] full demand for gas for a period of 35 to 65 years! A prospect hard to believe several years ago.