Russia Gas Ambitions in Southern Corridor
EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger had publicly stated that the European community has no interest in blocking Russian plans to diversify the regional energy sector, but Europe and Russia are finding themselves at odds as both have plans to develop a similar area of "Southern Corridor" of energy transit networks. Europe is worried that Russian gas development could block their planned natural gas pipelines in the region, which include the Nabucco pipeline.
Things previously reached a boiling point in 2009 when Russian company Gazprom cut off most of the European-bound gas through the Ukraine's gas transit system. Europe took a lesson from this crisis and has upped their natural gas reserves since the incident. They also made an agreement with Azerbijan to source more from that gas-rich country.