Moscow is a reliable supplier of natural gas for Europe and Germany, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday.
Russian news agency Tass stated that Merkel said in a weekly video podcast that Germany is very glad that gas supplies to Ukraine in the winter package have been settled.
'Germany has other sources of natural gas but Russia in principle has shown itself as a reliable supplier of natural gas in the past,' Merkel said.
Germany and Italy are Russia's biggest gas consumers in the European Union. Germany is Europe's biggest gas user and importer of Russian gas. Berlin imports around 30 percent of its natural gas needs from Russia.
Germany is also waiting on the completion of the Nord Stream-2 project in 2019 to secure more gas supplies.
The Nord Stream-2 project was announced on June 18, when Gazprom, E.ON, Shell and OMV signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of the project, which will add two additional pipelines to the original Nord Stream project.
The Nord Stream-2 project is planned to have a 55 billion cubic meter capacity which will continue from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
murat.temizer@aa.com.tr