A Possible New Russian Natural Gas Pipeline

For years, Russia has been in and out of a series of political and energy disputes with its two primary transit states — Ukraine and Belarus. Such issues were likely behind Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement on April 4 that Gazprom, Russia's state-owned energy firm, plans to revive a pipeline project that would open another route for exporting natural gas to Europe. The project, called Yamal-Europe II, would branch off the existing Yamal-Europe I pipeline that passes through Belarus en route to Poland and Germany. The new spur would stretch from Belarus to Slovakia via Poland, while bypassing Ukraine and further diminishing the country's role as a natural gas transit state.

The Yamal II pipeline would be much smaller than Russia's South Stream pipeline, a project similarly intended to diversify Russian transport options. And the distant time frame of Yamal II, which likely would not be built until 2018-2019, limits the project's impact on Russia's ongoing negotiations with Ukraine over recently renewed tensions regarding natural gas. But the project would add a new dynamic to Russia's traditionally contentious energy relationship with Poland.