RPT-Czech PM says worried by Russia-Germany energy ties

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The Czech Republic is concerned by close energy ties between Germany and Russia because they may threaten Czech energy security, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on Tuesday. Topolanek, a right-wing prime minister who took office last year, said the country was developing diplomatic activity and practical plans to diversify oil and gas supplies.

"We have big concerns, and I talk about it very openly so I can say it here, from the kind of new big friendship between Berlin and Moscow," he told a business conference.

The Czech Republic takes about 80 percent of its gas and most of its crude oil from Russia, and Topolanek's centre-right cabinet has made energy security one of its priorities.

Relations between the pro-U.S. government and Russia have been strained since the Czechs began negotiating to build a part of a U.S. missile defence shield in the country earlier this year.

Russia and Germany are planning a 1,200 km (745.6 miles) pipeline under the Baltic Sea, called Nord Stream, that will take 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year directly from Russia to Germany.

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom wants to diversify export routes away from countries such as Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while Germany wants to feed its expected rise in demand for gas.

"It means in the horizon of about 15 years a total bypassing in terms of oil and gas, a change from a transit country to a target country with all the associated risks," Topolanek said.

"This is not only a question of Nord Stream, but also of oil. There is a significant reduction of the Druzhba pipeline in the strategic plans of the Russian Federation, in the end the operation may be stopped altogether," he said.

The Druzhba takes crude oil via two branches from Russia to Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany.

But Russia plans to build a new oil link to a terminal on the Baltic coast, which would bypass the central European transit and target countries.

Topolanek said the Russian plans would lead to significant investments in diversification, but gave no details.

The Czechs already take oil via the IKL pipeline from Germany and gas from Norway. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka)

Keywords: CZECH ENERGY/

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]