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EU team wades into gas dispute
Source: Agencies |
January 6, 2009, Tuesday
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THE European Union decided yesterday to send a mission to Russia to press for a speedy resolution of a dispute with Ukraine that has reduced gas supplies to eastern and southern Europe.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine last Thursday in a dispute over debts and pricing that shows no sign of ending, worrying European consumers that depend on Russia for a quarter of their natural gas.
A European Union fact-finding mission will meet Gazprom officials today, although there was no immediate danger to EU consumers from the dispute, an EU Commission spokesman said.
"Since we are the main market for Russian gas ... we have an obvious interest in applying pressure on these parties to reach as soon as possible an agreement which is definitive," Johannes Laitenberger said.
Disruptions to gas supplies that had already hit Turkey and countries in eastern Europe spread to Croatia and Greece yesterday, energy firms said.
"The situation is worrying when someone is unable to fulfill their contract," Dimitar Gogov, chief executive of Bulgarian state gas monopoly Bulgargaz, told Reuters yesterday. His country saw a 10 to 15-percent drop in gas supplies from Russia.
The row, which mirrors a dispute three years ago that disrupted gas supplies to Europe, threatens Russian ties with the West, which were already strained by Moscow's conflicts with Georgia last August.
The Kremlin has long opposed Ukraine's ambition to join NATO and some Western policy makers see parallels between the Georgian conflict and Russia's treatment of Ukraine.
Gazprom has blamed Ukraine for siphoning off deliveries of gas to Europe. Its chief executive Alexei Miller met Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday for talks on the dispute.
Supplies of Russian gas to Greece have been cut by a third, an official from Greek natural gas operator DEPA said, while supplies to Romania were 30 percent below contracted levels.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine last Thursday in a dispute over debts and pricing that shows no sign of ending, worrying European consumers that depend on Russia for a quarter of their natural gas.
A European Union fact-finding mission will meet Gazprom officials today, although there was no immediate danger to EU consumers from the dispute, an EU Commission spokesman said.
"Since we are the main market for Russian gas ... we have an obvious interest in applying pressure on these parties to reach as soon as possible an agreement which is definitive," Johannes Laitenberger said.
Disruptions to gas supplies that had already hit Turkey and countries in eastern Europe spread to Croatia and Greece yesterday, energy firms said.
"The situation is worrying when someone is unable to fulfill their contract," Dimitar Gogov, chief executive of Bulgarian state gas monopoly Bulgargaz, told Reuters yesterday. His country saw a 10 to 15-percent drop in gas supplies from Russia.
The row, which mirrors a dispute three years ago that disrupted gas supplies to Europe, threatens Russian ties with the West, which were already strained by Moscow's conflicts with Georgia last August.
The Kremlin has long opposed Ukraine's ambition to join NATO and some Western policy makers see parallels between the Georgian conflict and Russia's treatment of Ukraine.
Gazprom has blamed Ukraine for siphoning off deliveries of gas to Europe. Its chief executive Alexei Miller met Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday for talks on the dispute.
Supplies of Russian gas to Greece have been cut by a third, an official from Greek natural gas operator DEPA said, while supplies to Romania were 30 percent below contracted levels.
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