European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger called for an end to Gazprom's export monopoly in Russia.
"We’d like to have a world without barter and borders, in which export monopolies would be eliminated," he said during a presentation of the South Stream gas pipeline project in Brussels.
"We’d like NOVATEK (and other companies to do so [and export gas]," he said.
Oettinger said also that the European Commission will support construction of the South Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Europe and will not impose bureaucratic encumbrances on it.
"South Stream is an important project for Russia and for Europe as a means to diversify supplies," he said.
