23 July 2014, Brussels – The European Union should not give Russia technical help to develop Arctic oil and gas fields if Moscow does not help to defuse the Ukraine crisis, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Wednesday.
“If they don’t try for peace in the east of Ukraine … If they don’t decisively try to do something to prevent escalation, then there is no reason for us to help promote the growth of their industry and develop new resources for gas and oil and therefore to put this equipment on the list of sanctions,” Oettinger told a news conference.
“The Russians see offshore oil and gas in the Arctic, for example, as a good potential for the future. But this can only be developed by hardware and software from the West, by drills and … equipment that their industry cannot supply.”
– Reuters