If you now carefully look at the regional energy maps of the European subcontinent, then there is understandable, though intense silence, almost everywhere. Only in some places interspersed with the fact that in a slightly woolen, breeched military language, for some reason, it is proudly referred to as battles of local significance. In general, everything is normal.

So, in particular, the official non-renewal of the agreement on the transit of Russian gas through Poland, which a number of not very reasonable Polish politicians tried to blackmail Russia, as they believed, ended up exactly out of the blue, ended exactly with what it should have ended. That is about nothing.

The Russian and Polish power engineers (who, we note specifically for the venerable public, have much more in common than we think) simply calmly shrugged and did not begin to sign anything.

It’s just that now Russians are buying transit capacities of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline at European auctions according to general European rules. And at these auctions there is only one bidder for all transit capacities of the Polish Republic. Yes, and that one with a good-natured, disposable smile of Alexei Borisovich Miller.

Which, of course, may not be very convenient for individual Polish politicians. But the Polish power engineers - so to say, are satisfied, and quite.

That is why the transit of Russian gas through Poland to Germany was quite calmly restored: why wouldn’t it be restored if the Polish conditions at auctions are obviously better than the same Ukrainian ones?

So it turns out that, as evidenced by the data of European gas transmission operators, the capacities of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline are booked by approximately 93% in June.

Well, why not?

And this despite the fact that the very long-suffering long-term Russian-Polish agreement on the transit of gas from Russia to the West through the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline will expire, we remind our attentive readers, expired on May 17. And now deliveries of Russian pipeline gas, so necessary for German consumers, are carried out on the basis of auctions held by the Polish state-owned operator Gaz-System. Is it worth it to say that under such pleasant circumstances, for Gazprom, for the third quarter of 2020, about 80% of the gas pipeline’s available capacities have already been reserved. And although the spokeswoman for the operator, Ivona Dominyak, refused to name the bidders, few have any doubts that these bidders are the essence of Gazprom.

No, of course, on the other hand, you can search the market: who else can supply gas from Russia to Europe through Poland. Only now, it seems, a little stupid people once again make laugh. People can get bored.

Bulgaria, for example, is definitely tired of it. But if a country that could be the only host country of the European end of the South Stream gas pipeline and, possibly, even supply Russian gas to Turkey itself, is now happy to become at least part of the Turkish Stream, who is to blame?

Nevertheless, what is happening there is still very funny, and the Bulgarian authorities are simply showing miracles of verbal balancing act. The gas pipeline, which is a purely technical continuation of the Turkish Stream project, is indicated, for example, not by the Turkish Stream, but by the Balkan Stream. And in official documents he was named at all - attention! - “The object of expanding the gas transportation infrastructure of the Bulgartransgaz company is parallel to the northern (main) gas pipeline to the Bulgarian-Serbian border.”

And (Prime Minister Boyko Borisov constantly insisted on this) it was in this form that the gas pipeline was completely coordinated with the European Commission and some “colleagues from the USA” unknown to the world: as they say, the mice cried, pricked, but still continued to love the cactus. For, as our own colleagues from RIA Novosti have already reported, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov, during a meeting with the President of Serbia, Alexander Vučić, simply stated in fact that the Balkan Stream project (which no matter what you say about it) call me, it was still and remains the Bulgarian part of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline) will be completed ahead of schedule before the end of 2020.

Excuse me, where to go?

Demand for Russian pipeline gas in Europe, including in Southern Europe, is predicted to already clearly exceed the supply in a rather close historical perspective. And for it already now, at the construction stage, quite serious competition is brewing.

For example, just yesterday, at the same time as Boiko Borisov and the Serbian president flew over the still under construction gas pipeline Balkan Stream, Gazprom Export (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Russian Gazprom) and the Greek company Mytilineos SA concluded a long-term contract for natural gas supply. Sorry, the year 2030. And again, excuse me, yes, through the Turkish Stream.

So it makes sense to hurry.

The sad experience of the failed “South Stream” transformed into “Turkish” can give the Bulgarians, I am afraid, much to tell ...

However, we repeat, all these are fights of local importance.

Exactly the same, by the way, as haters on both sides forgive me, the notorious completion of Nord Stream 2. Around which, of course, as many copies as you like can break. They can even hold him a little (although hardly, of course).

But it is unlikely that any of the serious people even simply considers the issue, conditionally, of "pipe analysis". And the rest - the devil, of course, in the little things and blood will be spoiled a lot to all participants in the process, but this is still a purely tactical case.

Strategic events in European energy are simply fundamentally impossible now, because the world is in a state of uncertainty. And in the same global gas industry, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to predict what will happen in reality to American LNG, which supposedly had to compete with Russian pipeline gas in Europe, simply technically, at the production level. For the American mining industry is now generally, sorry, lies. And shale gas was largely economically extracted only at the expense of no less shale oil: in fact, their production, to put it mildly, is slightly connected. And whether the entire shale industry will break the deadlock, is not very clear right now: judging by the actions actively taken by the Americans, this is not fat and they are currently trying to save at least traditional oil.

And indeed, what is of a strategic nature does not occur at the European end of the giant Eurasian continent now. Even if it concerns enough local issues of energy trade.

Everything interesting in this regard in Eurasia is now taking place in those offices of Russian and Chinese comrades who are solving the problems of preparing the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 on the traditional European resource base of the Russian Yamal Peninsula. Which can very, very tangibly shift the balance of interests in this area. In particular, to expand eastward the flow of energy raw materials: at present and in the near historical perspective, these Far Eastern markets look much more understandable, interesting and, excuse me, convincing.

And before further developing energy cooperation with Europe, the level of which today seems quite sufficient, as they say, is sufficient, it is necessary to begin to at least understand where this Europe itself is going to move on. In the meantime, the picture there from the point of view of potential development is very bleak. And it depends only on Europe itself whether it will be able to get out of this humiliating absolute Atlantic impasse for the subcontinent.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.