German gas companies are looking for an alternative to \"Gazprom\"

The gas row between Russia and Ukraine has inevitably led to a revision of energy security conceptions in many European countries. Germany has become no exception.

The biggest German energy concern has already made provisions for diversifying its energy supplies by contracting gas suppliers from the Middle East, as well as North and West Africa, says Ruhrgas head Burkhard Bergman.

One of the first steps on this road would be the construction in Germany of a new terminal to download liquefied gas. As B. Bergman told the "Börsen-Zeitung" newspaper, E.ON Ruhrgas is striving to get greater independence from its current suppliers. Apart from the purchase of liquefied gas in the Middle East and North and West Africa, E.ON is planning to develop new deposits in Norway. Norwegian gas would be supplied to Germany in a liquefied form.

Head of the federal department of geology and natural resources Prof. Bernhard Stribrny explains the new lines of the German energy policy: "The correct solution for Germany with its highly developed industry, would be to use all types of energy from various sources worldwide".

"At distances of over 3,000 km transporting gas in a liquefied form is economically a quite feasible solution today", he says.

The first German terminal to take delivery of liquefied gas is supposed to be commissioned in 2010 in the town of Wilhelmshafen. The cost of the project is estimated at 500 million Euros. As of today, E.ON has ordered a feasibility study to be drawn up for the terminal construction, though no final decision on the project has been made yet.

German gas supply specialists propose to transport liquefied gas by tank ships. From the new terminal, it would go to the German gas transporting system. The volume of the purchases of liquefied gas would come up to about 10 billion cubic meters per year.

In the event of a favorable outcome of negotiations with the suppliers, Ruhrgas would consider a possibility of constructing additional terminals in Great Britain and on the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea, from where gas would go to Germany through pipelines.

At present E.ON is getting 30 percent of gas through pipelines from Russia, 21 percent from Norway and 19 percent from the Netherlands.