RIYADH, Jan 31: Unlike the ruling elite, industry leaders in the West seem to be supportive of Moscow in its dispute with Ukraine over gas prices.

“If there are imbalances in prices, they need to be rectified,” said Gertjan Lankhorst, the CEO of Dutch gas firm GasTerra while talking to Dawn in Ryadh, clearly implying Russia had a point in asking for higher prices.

Lankhorst was in Riyadh to attend the Riyadh Global Competitiveness Forum. He heads the firm that supplies Dutch gas to most parts of Europe, and was invited to speak at the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum Secretariat.

When seen in the backdrop of the recent tussle between Russia and Ukraine, it was definitely interesting to hear a first-hand analysis from a real gas man.

Lankhorst definitely had a special insight into this very crucial and politically sensitive issue.

Talking to Lankhorst on the sidelines of his presentation at the IEFS was refreshing and reassuring too in more than one ways. His mathematics was straightforward — Europe needs Russian gas for survival. As simple as that! No ifs and buts.

Lankhorst, who otherwise must have been dealing with Russian energy bureaucracy extensively, points out that at business level, European companies never have had any problems in dealing with Russia.

Conceding that Moscow may be using its energy resources for flexing muscles, he asks — almost in a philosophical tone: Who doesn’t? Some three decades back, he said, one Dutch senior bureaucrat was sent to Dutch gas importing countries with a clear-cut mission of enhancing the selling price of their gas. And apparently, the official may have even twisted arms of some of the clients to further his objectives. And though the CEO of ENI Paolo Scaroni could not make it to the IEFS to deliver his lecture and had to leave Riyadh on an urgent assignment, yet was gracious enough to send the presentation that he was to make there for the benefit of the awaiting audience. And he clearly emits a warning message. The wild (oil) price swings witnessed over last six months is unprecedented, and this bumpy ride which he terms ‘oil turbulence’ could (definitely) have impact on future flow of crude.

And Scaroni, therefore, emphasises the fact that the time is ripe for the oil industry to look for ways to ensure more stability.

“Our sector is no stranger to cycles,” Scaroni accepts but also asserts the current turbulence is catastrophic and needed to be taken care of.

And the CEO of this important European company, with an established network in Europe, was positive over the future outlook for this industry — crude is there for at least 135 years. And behind this conviction was simple mathematics.

Although Middle East currently boasts of almost 65 per cent of the global proven oil reserves and is still regarded as little explored, its share in the 150,000 wildcats drilled in the world over last 26 years remains just one per cent. There is definitely much more to look for in the region, one is hence bound to sense and smell.

The IEF Secretary General Noe Van Hulst, in his presentation, also underlined the same theme.

While welcoming diplomats and energy fraternity at the secretariat, he also asserted availability is no problem. This is not the real issue, most agreed even at the last IEF Ministerial, he reminded.

It is the deliverability of this oil and its affordability that is the real issue today and the world needs to closely look at those and find answers.