Russia Ukraine Gas Crisis Hits European Markets

Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Russia Ukraine Gas Crisis Hits European Markets BRUSSELS: European countries began to feel the impact of Russia and Ukraine’s gas dispute, as the Czech presidency of the European Union called an extraordinary meeting of envoys from the bloc for January 5 to discuss the crisis.

Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom said some Balkan countries are not receiving the full amount of gas they requested, and importers in Hungary and Poland said pressure on their pipelines had dropped. But a Hungarian gas industry spokeswoman said the drop was not yet critical.

Poland said deliveries from Ukraine had dropped 6 percent but were being made up by deliveries through Belarus, a report said.

In Moscow, Gazprom officials accused Kyiv of stealing small amounts of the gas supplies intended for European markets but routed through Ukraine.

But Valentyn Zemlyansky, a spokesman for Ukraine’s gas company, said that Ukraine is not stealing gas, and is actually using gas from its own reserves to continue supplies to Europe.

EU envoys will address the crisis in an extraordinary meeting on January 5, to be held at deputy ambassador level in Brussels. The Czech Republic announced the decision as a Ukrainian delegation on January 2 began a European tour to press Brussels to mediate in its row with Moscow. The delegation, led by Energy Minister Yuri Prodan, met first with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek before heading to other European capitals.

Talks between Kyiv and Moscow collapsed this week, prompting Gazprom on January 1 to sharply curb supplies to Ukraine while announcing an increase in gas bound for Europe via Ukraine.

Ukrainian pipelines carry approximately 80 percent of the Russian gas bound for the EU.