Attempts to restrict price of Russian oil will make prices skyrocket- Putin

YEREVAN, July 20, /ARKA/. The West groundlessly attempts to place the blame on Russia for the repercussions of its own mistakes in the energy sphere, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists after talks in Tehran on Tuesday with Iranian and Turkish leaders, according to Tass.

"I don’t know whether it is worth going into detail concerning the energy policy of European nations who disregarded the importance of traditional energy sources and staked on non-traditional ones. They are big specialists in non-traditional relations. And in the energy sector, they also opted to stake on non-traditional types of energy," Putin was quoted as saying.

"Gazprom has always fulfilled, fulfills and will continue to fulfill all of its obligations," yet it encounters obstacles since Ukraine has randomly blocked one of the gas routes passing through its territory,’ he said.

Gazprom has not yet received any official documents that a turbine for Nord Stream 1 would be returned to Russia from Canada soon and without it the delivery volumes by this pipeline will be cut in half.

Moscow is ready to launch Nord Stream 2 but this route is now problematic as well since half of its capacity has already been allocated for domestic consumption.

"Nowadays, we hear all sorts of preposterous ideas with regards to limiting the volumes and restricting the price of Russian oil. This is absolutely identical to what’s going on with gas. The result will be the same - a price hike. Oil prices will skyrocket," Putin said. -0-