European Union countries were on alert today for further disruption to their gas supplies after Russia cut off Ukraine in a row over pricing, and accused it of stealing gas bound for western markets.
The EU's fear of disruption to its gas supply in the dead of winter became a reality last night, when Romania's pipeline operator said supplies had fallen by 30-40 per cent and Hungary and Poland also reported drops.
But there was no immediate sign the problem had spread further. The Czech pipeline operator said there were no problems in a main pipeline to Germany.
The Russian state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, halted supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day, saying Ukraine had failed to pay its gas bill and talks on 2009 gas prices had broken down.
The European Union, which gets a fifth of its gas from pipelines that cross Ukraine, said it would call a crisis meeting of envoys in Brussels on Monday and demanded that transit and supply contracts be honoured.
"Energy relations between the EU and its neighboors should be based on reliability and predictability," the Czech presidency of the EU said in a statement yesterday.
The disruptions are likely to undermine Russia's attempts to present itself as a stable energy supplier and add to concern that Moscow is trying to bully its neighbours just five months after the war with Georgia. Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko has angered the Kremlin by trying to join Nato.
Russia and Ukraine have insisted they will honour their commitments but Gazprom said Ukraine was stealing gas destined for Europe, a charge Ukraine's state-run gas company denied.
Europe has enough gas stockpiled to manage without Russian supplies for several days but could face difficulties should problems last for weeks, analysts said.
Russia's 2006 dispute with Ukraine prompted calls for the EU to reduce its reliance on Russian gas but Gazprom forecasts that the EU will rely on Russia for as much as one-third of its gas by 2015, up from about a quarter now.
Reuters