January 9, 2007: How reliable is Russia as an energy supplier? The ongoing price dispute between Russia's fossil fuels giant Gazprom and Belarus has Europeans asking that question again. The crisis also highlights Europe's growing dependence on imported energy. Yesterday one of the world's largest pipelines stopped delivering oil to Europe. With a total length of more than 3,000 miles, the "Druschba" pipeline ["friendship"] runs from central Russia to Europe through Belarus, where it splits into a northern and a southern line. The northern line supplies Poland and Germany with oil from Russia's Siberian oil fields, and the southern line supplies the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

The interruption in oil deliveries via "Druschba" is the latest development in the current energy war between Gazprom and Belarus. Last year Gazprom announced that it was raising the price of natural gas it delivers to Belarus by more than 100 percent. It also slapped a surcharge of 180 dollars per ton on the oil it exports to the former Soviet republic. The response from the capital in Minsk was a counter surcharge of 45 dollars per ton on the oil that is piped via "Druschba" to the European Union.

"Druschba" can deliver more than 2 million barrels of oil a day. Of that amount, 1.4 to 1.6 million barrels go directly to the European Union and the rest is exported to Belarus. Germany gets about 20 percent of its total oil consumption from "Druschba" every day – some 500,000 barrels of oil. Hungary and Slovakia import nearly 100 percent of their oil via "Druschba", and the Czech Republic gets half of its oil from the Russian pipeline. When the oil stopped flowing via "Druschba" yesterday, Gazprom and Belarus accused each other of having stopped the delivery of oil, with Minsk asserting that it had done nothing to lower the pressure in the pipeline.

German economics minister Michael Glos responded to reporter's questions on the oil stoppage by declaring that this latest incident again reveals how "absolutely necessary a balanced energy mixture is for a reliable supply situation." Glos added that Germany "must prevent a one-sided dependence" in its energy supply. Other political leaders were more vocal in calling for a reduction in Germany's dependence on Russian oil, and Ernst Uhrlau, president of Germany's intelligence service, the "Bundesnachrichtendienst", said his agency must provide better intelligence on potential conflicts in countries supplied by Gazprom.

With domestic oil reserves high due to a mild winter, Germany is in no danger of running out of oil anytime soon, but the Gazprom-Belarus dispute again shows how dependent Germany and Europe are on imported energy.