KIEV, June 11 (RIA Novosti) - It is unrealistic for the European Union to decrease its energy dependence on Russia, announced European Commission Director General of the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport Francoise Lamoureux in an interview with Zerkalo Nedeli (Weekly Mirror) newspaper. "We do not have a choice. We import large volumes of gas and oil from Russia. In addition, our production of oil and gas is decreasing, especially in the North Sea," Novosti-Ukraina news agency quotes Lamoureux's interview with the newspaper.
"Therefore, the EU does not have many alternatives at present. There are political problems with Iran. The situation in Iraq is rather odd. The supplies of gas and oil from the Caspian region are certainly attractive. Nevertheless, these supplies are very limited compared with volumes imported from Russia," Lamoureux said.
"In order to decrease our dependency, we work a lot on energy saving, and we achieved rather positive results...The economy regime, the use of new technologies, anything that might increase the effectiveness of energy industry is a priority for the EU today," he stressed.
Lamoureux also confirmed the interest shown by the European Commission toward the expansion of the Odessa-Brody-Plotsk oil pipeline in the direction of northern Europe."
"We believe the Odessa-Brody-Plotsk project is very important. We are financing a technical and economic assessment of the project in the framework of the TACIS program, which will allow determining the scale and the ways of the further development of this oil pipeline," he added.
The Odessa-Brody-Plock oil pipeline is planned to transport oil from the Caspian region to the European countries.
Lamoureux believes the unification of a part of the Ukrainian energy system with the EU energy system might be a promising prospect.
"It is interesting for all of us, I assume. For the EU, because we would like to expand our market. For Ukraine, because it might want to sell its electricity to the EU in the future," Lamoureux said.
