Gas plot: the EU prepares energy alliance against Russia

Yesterday, the German company BASF suddenly announced the cancellation of a large-scale asset swap deal with Gazprom, which was prepared from 2012. More recently, the parties claimed that any sanctions wouldn’t affect it, and yesterday they didn’t reported any reasons for the severance. However, this step can be explained in the framework of the restarting gas relations between Russia and Europe, which were built from the 1970s. As the Kommersant has got to know, the European Commission is preparing a plan to create an energy union in the EU, which may be presented in January. A key element will be the idea of general gas purchases by European companies, but they also talks about new restrictions for Russian companies for investment in the European energy sector.