MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. US representatives in the G20 are paying attention to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the causes of the gas crisis in Europe, Russia’s G20 Sherpa Svetlana Lukash told to reporters on Friday.
"Of course, they are aware. Everyone knows very well, follows [the crisis development] and understands [the causes], and they pay attention to the position voiced by the President [of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin]," she said, answering the relevant question.
The situation on the energy market in different parts of the world varies and requires an individual approach, Lukas said.
"Everyone has the same problem, but the causes, solutions and approaches are different. One cannot say we are all in the same boat, we are all in the same storm. Everyone is in different conditions in this situation," she said.
"Indeed, in Europe, these are the reasons [of the crisis] that are outlined by our President, it is difficult to argue with this: this is a decline in energy production in the wind power generation sector, the lack of reserves in gas storage facilities, because they chose for spot contracts, rather than long-term ones, this is their refusal to invest in traditional energy in recent years," the Sherpa of Russia in the G20 said.
Lukash added, that although Moscow supports the general trend to reduce carbon emissions of the economy, it does not set the task of completely abandoning the coal industry.
"Coal energy plays a significant role in our country now, and, in general, the coal industry is important for us, first of all, in terms of development of entire regions of our country and a huge number of jobs," Lukash explained. She added that in the future Russia will reduce the share of coal-fired energy and is already gradually transferring a number of industries from coal to gas.
The European gas crisis exploded this autumn, after spot gas prices began to skyrocket past $1,000 per 1,000 cubic meters, nearly hitting $2,000 per 1,000 cubic meters amid low occupancy levels at gas storage facilities. As of mid-October, European underground gas storage facilities were filled by 71% of the volume of gas that was taken from them last season.