WORLD> Europe
Gas row disrupts EU supplies
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-05 07:32


A pressure gauge is seen at a Ukrainian gas compressor station in the village of Boyarka near Kiev Sunday. [Agencies]

Ukraine accused Russia yesterday of deliberately reducing gas flows to customers in Europe as they face freezing winter temperatures.

Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have reported drops in supplies after Russian state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom cut off Ukraine on New Year's Day in a dispute over prices.

Russia has accused Kiev of causing the disruptions by stealing volumes flowing across its territory, but Ukraine hit back by alleging Moscow was cutting flows by more than half through a key export pipeline.

"Naftogaz considers the actions of Gazprom as threatening the energy security of Ukraine and Europe, which could bring unpredictable consequences for the entire gas transit system of Europe," Ukraine's state energy company said in a statement.

"Naftogaz demands that Gazprom immediately renews the balanced supplies of gas to all transit pipelines supplying Russian gas to European consumers."

Gazprom said yesterday it was honoring in full its commitments to supply customers in Europe, Russian media reported.

Gas flows to Germany, Europe's biggest economy, were unaffected and countries elsewhere said they had sufficient fuel stockpiled to make up for shortfalls of Russian gas for several days - though not for weeks.

Turkey became the latest country to say it was feeling the impact. A senior energy ministry official said volumes from Russia via Ukraine had fallen 5 percent, though this had not posed any problems.

The European Union, which gets about a fifth of its gas from pipelines that cross Ukraine, has demanded that transit and supply contracts be honored. EU president the Czech Republic said it would not get involved directly in the row.

The EU has called an emergency meeting of envoys for today to discuss the dispute, which has again placed Russia's reputation as a reliable gas supplier under intense scrutiny.

Russia's ties with the West are still fraught after it waged a war with Georgia last August, and the gas row is likely to be viewed in some capitals as fresh evidence that Russia bullies its pro-Western neighbors.

Russia and Ukraine's gas companies traded allegations throughout on Saturday, indicating the prospect of a swift resolution to the dispute - over gas debts and pricing for supplies in 2009 - could be remote.

With no negotiations in sight, both sides said they would bring cases against the other in the arbitration court in Stockholm.