2007 Russia–Belarus energy dispute built on that." Merkel continued by saying "We will certainly say to our Russian partners but also to Belarus that such consultations are the minimum when there are problems, and I think that that must become normality, as it would be within the European Union." Barroso said that "while there is no immediate risk to supplies, it is not acceptable" for such actions to be undertaken without prior consultation. 2007 Russia–Belarus energy dispute The Russia–Belarus energy dispute began when Russian state-owned gas supplier Gazprom demanded an increase in gas prices paid by Belarus, a country which has been closely allied
Gazprom Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Royal Dutch Shell signed in the presence of Putin and Mark Rutte prime minister of Netherlands a memorandum outlining the principles of cooperation within hydrocarbons exploration and development in the Arctic shelf and a section of the deep-water shelf. In 2008, Gazprom carried out of explorative well drilling; of 2D seismic and of 3D seismic survey. As a result, gas reserves grew by , and crude oil and gas condensate reserves grew by 61 million tons. Gazprom carries out prospecting and exploration in foreign countries such as India, Algeria, Venezuela, Vietnam,