europe centuries to do that doing it within twenty years isn't so easy that i think russia is following the path he chose in one thousand nine hundred ninety one but there have been ups and downs and i don't see any disk it was your duty so i think we can become by the trash future it's starting to look the more and the more like you know going the country as it was before if somebody asked you to describe more than russia in just three words what would those words be. the frost one would be might say which it wasn't until years ago and he said with them there's a this second newborn your grasp of the modern russia make small time nationality actually work multiple nationalities was what killed the savage union on this. that it's here. would be dynamic. i thought i'm going to give very much thank you.

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full stop. of each. violence in the country scene.

from. the fallout from the mysterious deaths. across the globe in the most recent. and the call of duty our team meets the russian special forces unit preparing for the frontline against terrorism feared and revered the spetznaz are the cream of russia's military. securing energy supplies is crucial for every economy most of the time access to these resources is politicized. richard morningstar the u.s. secretary of state special envoy for eurasian energy what has america got to do with the european gas network.

the. guest is rich mourning stuff in today's world. the coming war. transit countries sometimes use them. as the main supply to europe is trying to secure. the continent russia is working on the north. lawn project as an alternative direct way to supply energy to europe europe has its own. project which is finding support. states what does washington have to do with gas supplies on the european continent. u.s. secretary of state's special envoy on energy mr richard.

europe relies much on the gas tax goes from russia provides over forty percent of the natural gas used in households but when ukraine tried to reduce the price to pay for russian gas by blocking supplies to europe decided it needed tract. of delivery routes the north stream pipeline is expected to begin pumping gas in a year's time and south stream four years later construction of the european sponsored pipeline has yet to begin go ahead on schedule. by the end of two thousand and fourteen. thank you very much for being with us on the show my pleasure. first of all you were the u.s. state special envoy for european for eurasian rather energy why is this issue

of eurasian energy so important for the state department and they have a special envoy to deal with these matters and you've been with it for food for some time now why fad experience really in all aspects of it because i did work in the caspian area in the ninety's i worked with russia earlier than that with respect to various programs that we've had in russia after the breakup of the soviet union and then i was ambassador to the european union so i have a combination of experiences which made it. good i think a pretty good fit for this position. but. our interest as we have several interests one the relationship that the united states and europe have is obviously very close

our economies are fully interdependent. there are millions of european jobs that are with american companies millions of american jobs that are with european companies. that a an energy secure europe and a strong europe economically is in our interest just as an energy secure united states is in this in europe's interest for the same reason a lot of the work that we do with the you relates to matters such as energy efficiency new technologies the kinds of things that will benefit both the united states and the and by the way we're dealing on the same issues with russia as well as part of the energy working group that's part that is part of the buy national commission. between the united states. and russia in the presidential binational commission so these are important issues for all of us to work together

we are we also just a complete be answer to the question. we feel strongly that it's important that there be more resources developed in the caucasus and central asia and russia as well. that. the more the more resources that are developed it's going to be better for world markets the united states won't get a molecule of gas from the caucasus or central asia probably not a molecule of gas from russia although it's possible we could at some point be getting l. and g. from l. and g. from russia but the point is the more that's produced it will open up markets in other areas and make other markets more accessible as well for the united states for the state government the energy issues in your opinion it sits in the comic or are the political matter because energy is very politicized these days you

would deny that. well first of all certainly it's economic. we're trying to do politicize the issue and make it. and make it last and one of the ways we're trying to do that is to constructively engage with all countries on energy issues and not put it in terms of zero sum games. i'm here in moscow now i had. a very good meeting yesterday with the minister schmock go meet with other officials while i'm here and. the point that i keep trying to make is that the world is changing very quickly global global energy markets are changing. we've seen shust amazing changes in the past few years with the shale becoming

a big part of the united states market that opens up more liquefied natural gas for your. issues relating to demand today hopefully that's going to change in the coming years there's a global financial global financial crisis that we're all still dealing with and i think that requires us all to speak openly constructively about energy issues we may not agree all the time but the more we speak the more we speak about it the more likely we're going to come out down the road with win win kinds of solutions i'm not sure what those solutions ultimately would be but as long as we talk about it and recognize the changes that are taking place in the marketplace that's a good thing well off say years of negotiations on investment into the new book projects that have been reports that the final decision and is delayed again until the the first quarter of two thousand and eleven and some people say say that

there's no future in this project i know that that that the american side is still optimistic about the project is it true and what makes shell to missed. let me answer the question this way. we support the so-called southern corridor. which would be a corridor that would bring gas and oil for that matter. through the caucasus into turkey and on into europe we support that for diversification reasons that may be new bucco it could be another pipeline there are two other proposals the italy turkey greece interconnector there's a pipeline called the tap pipeline trans adriatic pipeline and ultimately the shock the news consortium will choose that pipeline that makes the most commercial. since we like nobuko if it were totally up to us and we would certainly prefer we would

prefer nabisco but yet we also understand that any pipeline has to be commercially reasonable if it ends up if the shock the news consortium ends up picking the italy turkey greece interconnector is the first pipeline because that's the most commercially reasonable well then so be it. and one of the things though that i think that all people who are working in that region will say is that it's a question of what not if the gas becomes available but when the gas becomes available so even if the first pipeline is a smaller pipeline i believe that will be done in a framework that will allow the system to expand as more gas as more gas becomes available and ultimately it's going to be up to the shocking news consortium to decide which project it's going to choose we expect that they'll do that over the next several months richard you said in september i quote nobuko is the best option

for a new european part line that's why it's important to do everything possible to line up additional early sources of gas from iraq and elsewhere and quest has been the book management already found these additional sources of gas because i understand from the russian sources from what all politicians from gasper says this is the main problem the source of gas well again it becomes a question it becomes a question of timing and if the bucco to take place in the short term. then it will be important to get other sources of gas arac gas being very much of a possibility of course that's going to depend on the new government being formed to get gas from northern iraq into the so-called southern corridor will have to be agreements but. and the baghdad government and kurdish representatives in erbil we hope that as part of the formation of the new government that. the that that that

that may be possible but again and we've all if you look at all of my quotes in context since i've been in my position we've always taken the position that it's the southern corridor that we support if it ends up being the book oh yes that would be preferable but there are other alternatives in the long term there's going to be a lot of gas coming from that part of the world. the morning star you said once that. are critical of the politicized they against us approach and now you just repeated that you're trying to de politicize that. the european energy commissioner ginter arching to identify the russian launched south stream project as a strong rival a potential competitor to the u.s. back to become project well do you consider these two projects as rivals are all or

not well you know there's there's a debate whether that's the case and sometimes you hear of him being a rival others try and say that including russia that that they're not really in competition. if for example all of the gas that were to go there. all of the gas that goes into south stream is basically replacing gas that would go through ukraine then i suppose one could make the argument that they're not that they're not rivals if in fact the gas that goes into south stream is gas that would otherwise going in otherwise go into the bucco then i suppose you could argue that maybe they are there are rival so it depends on where you're looking at it you hear different and you hear different things. from different from different people says richard morningstar spotlight will be back shortly will

continue this interview in less than a minute so stay with us there were. children now see you in south by the end of elementary school five hundred thousand violent acts by the age of eighteen. movies television shows to video games. twenty four hour news channels is now team every day formulating a staples in. a lot of shakespeare those while those who sell. their first think about it there's a good artistic and journalistic future but most of the while it's good to see what i call. god came down from heaven and stopped.

at the. moment in a pretty what. makes the pill easier to swallow. everybody was. wealthy british style holds. the. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy kinds of reports. welcome back to spotlight i'm al. just a reminder that my guests on the show today is the u.s.

states special envoy on the eurasian energy. morningstar. puts and prime minister putin signed an agreement with his bulgarian counterpart recently on this project do you think that we might see investments from from western europe maybe from the united states going into this house tree i don't know i know the goal of south stream is to get more investments from western europe certainly the italian company . involved. but whether or not other companies would want to invest i can't i can't speak for those companies what if gas problem decides to take part in the book what would you say well be a reaction our position has been consistent. that if gazprom wants to take part in

a bucco that that's ok with us that up to fifty percent of the gas bucco is open for competitive bidding. under the exemption from the third party. access. provisions. i'd like to see the gazprom be a supplier to the bucco i think it would be in a minority position. but it would also show that. gazprom can participate and projects not necessarily. in a majority position but i think it would be a good thing. and one of the. as we talk constructively about where to go in the future. looking down the road. maybe one solution would be for russia to be a. participant at least to some extent in the book oh it may be

there for russia and ukraine and europe can solve the transit problems with respect to ukraine maybe that would make unnecessary spending large amounts of money on south street so maybe you could have a situation where you had nord stream. modernized ukrainian system that all the parties felt comfortable with and russia participating in the southern corridor that may in the end make the most sense. looking looking down the road in this new world. what about the shale gas that was discovered in europe well americans know a lot of shale gas do you think that if it really. is a success story. will it make because struction of needed gas pump plants in europe or didn't i don't think so i think there's always going to be a need for new pipelines but again. as i mentioned earlier i don't think that we

should over emphasize the importance of these new pipelines whether it be nobuko or south stream or whatever what's happening in europe and internally is going to be a lot more important than than any specific pipeline shale maybe one maybe one of those factors but i think we also have to recognize that shale projects take a long time. that even if a project started today it may not you know maybe ten years before such a project were in we would be in full production. there are various issues that are that are involved. we think it's important but it should be only one part of a balanced energy strategy that the e.u. should have. found along with building more interconnections more gas storage

bringing in more l.n.g. . more work on renewables and sulfur and so on well speaking in warsaw recently russian president medvedev said i quote there is an opinion that particularly all russian energy projects are politicized that russia is wishing to turn here a into an energy junkie for political gain we think that's absolute nonsense and quote who do you think rule is representing russia's gas supply as threatening to to to to europe's best interest is that this is sort of a campaign of what we're or what we're all russian politicians over estimating these these things that appear in western press. well you know i certainly hope that let me answer it this way russia is going to be a very important player in the energy market whatever happens russia's obviously has a large amount of resources both both in the gas area and in the oil area

we're going to play a strong. europe is working to liberalize its market has various regulations and directives that will apply to all companies not just russian companies but any company within europe or whatever. we feel we believe those that that the will apply those regulations and directive fairly. i think that if if gazprom and other companies. can let you know can live comfortably. within within those structures i think that gazprom will continue to and russia will continue to and will continue to play a very major role i have no doubt that russia will will will play a major role so i. i really hope that these issues are not politicized become less politicized and that we can all work together towards

a common end and that's one of the reasons i'm here in moscow when you say that russia is going to play a major role on the table gas and the chill markets does that mean that this role is increasing that it's not. that today it is not going to be big or is that it certainly a major role today and i look at i can't predict whether it's going to increase or decrease all i know is that russia is going to continue to be a major player you know i don't think any of us. can accurately predict what's going to happen in energy markets over the next several years over the climate right i mean you know. to give you an example our energy information administration which was part of our department of energy every five years comes out with an energy outlook in two thousand and five it said that the united states would be

major importers of liquefied natural gas now in two thousand and ten and five years they're saying well because of the shale revolution in the united states it's unlikely that the united states will import significant liquefied natural gas in fact the united states may well become an export of liquefied natural gas which could have an effect on world markets so it really is impossible to predict all i know is that russia is going to continue to be a major player that we need to work constructively with the russian government as well as with russian companies and i know we can find solutions where everybody will come out ok. are you afraid that pressure on the gas or gas problem. for. the e.u. market will. only intensify. why the the copper ration of the russian gas producers with china. pushing pushing

the russians supplies to the east rather than working with the west well first of all i think russia is going to always play a major role in the west i do think that markets all over the world are going to become more competitive i think the european market will become more competitive look at what the effect right now is of ellen g. on on pricing with respect to europe so just as you know we've always argued that europe needs to diversify i think russia's efforts to diversify are probably a probably probably the right thing for russia whether it be to china other parts of asia president medvedev was and. was in south korea recently and i think offered ten b.c.m. of gas to south korea that's the world that we live in today. and and i think it's

healthy that markets speak competitive that companies from what ever countries whether it be russia the united states europe china india wherever they may happen to be realize that they're working and operating in a competitive world that that's alternately going to be better better for consumers . and one follow up here you mentioned the relations between russia and the ukraine the you mentioned establishing a normal working relationship in transit one of the problems in this transit is the need to modernize the ukrainian gas pipeline system was one of the options that russia is proposing is a merger between nafta gaz of ukraine and russia's gazprom do you consider it an option and and how would how would the state department how would you react if this happens well what. first of all we strongly believe the right of first of all you're right i think that modernizing the ukraine transit

system is is very important. that involves basically three entities three countries russia ukraine and the european union any solution to the ukrainian transit system that meets the needs of all three russia ukraine and the european union in an open and transparent way i think would be a very positive thing you know we know that our friends in ukraine are you know are not happy about the idea of a south stream pipeline because of the effect that it would have on the effect that it would have on transit through crime well what would make a south stream pipeline ultimately less necessary would be a secure transit system that met the needs of all three russia ukraine and european union. of three ukraine so any solution which satisfied the needs of

those three again in an open and transparent way i think would be optimal and i could have vision a situation as i mentioned earlier there's a nord stream pipeline now. there could be secure transit through crane there could be russian participation as a partner in the projects going you know coming from the south and then i think everybody could be in a win win situation now i don't think this is going to happen overnight and maybe i'm being naive when i'm realistic but let's see where we are three four five years from now because i don't think anybody can predict thank you thank you very much in just a reminder that my guest in the studio today was richard morningstar the u.s. a two state special envoy on eurasian energy and that's it for now from all of us here in florida back with more first on comments on the one.