As the European Union hosted talks Tuesday on the threat of disruptions to natural-gas supplies amid Russia-Ukraine tensions, OAO executives were in Brussels trying to press ahead with their own pipeline project. Russia’s state-run energy giant wants to build a €16 billion ($22 billion) pipeline to send natural gas from Russia, across the Black Sea, and into Italy. The route avoids Ukraine, through which about half of Europe-bound Russian gas flows. But in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, that pipeline, called South Stream, has become another political flash point between East and West. And a handful of large European companies, all partners with Gazprom in the offshore section of the project, are walking a fine line between the two sides. The talks held Tuesday by EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger focused on growing concerns in Brussels about a potential disruption of natural-gas supplies to Ukraine itself. Those […]