Ousted Assad major threat to Gazprom

Toppling of Bashar al-Assad threatens to change the balance on the European gas market, as such developments will enable Qatar to build a direct pipeline through Syrian territory to Turkey, according to the Russian online newspaper gazeta.ru

"If Assad is toppled, Qatar can build a pipeline through Turkey to Europe, where it will push down Gazprom,” says head of the analytical department of Golden Hills - Capital AM Mikhail Krylov, gazeta.ru reports.

Therefore, Russia may profit from strengthening Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in terms of competition on the European gas market. Syria is the best route for gas supplies from Qatar to Turkey, and then - to Europe. Even today, Qatar is already one of the major suppliers to the EU.

Qatar exports nearly 77 million tonnes of LNG annually, with a third of that amount going to Europe.

"Syria is one of the few sources of tension, restraining the formation of geographically justified and cheaper routes to deliver Qatari gas to Europe," says the expert.

The expert points out that Qatar boasts one of the world's largest gas reserves (about 25 trillion cubic meters). If a straight pipeline is laid, the route to Turkey will be only 1,800 kilometers. For comparison, the length of the existing Russian Nord Stream pipeline which goes across the Baltic Sea to the German coast is 1,224 kilometers. But this does not include the transportation of gas from Siberia...............

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