 Embargo On: Czar Putin Cuts Gas Supplies To Europe Over Ukraine Dispute
|
Jan. 6th, 2009 @ 05:33 am 
|
|---|
Gazprom Dispute Entangles Europe
By DAVID JOLLY and ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: January 6, 2009
PARIS — Russia’s gas price dispute with Ukraine escalated Tuesday, as Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Austria reported gas supplies had been suspended or reduced
OMV, the Austrian energy company, said in a statement that its supply of Russian gas via Gazprom was down 90 percent Tuesday.
The Bulgarian Energy Ministry said that its gas supplies were suspended early Tuesday, including gas intended for transit to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. Bulgaria gets the vast majority of its gas from Russia, and has only a few days of supply in reserve.
The Turkish energy minister, Hilmi Guler, on Tuesday told reporters in Ankara that the Russian gas from a pipeline that transits Ukraine had been completely cut. But Turkey is seeking to increase deliveries of Russian gas via a Black Sea pipeline, he said.
In Prague, the Czech pipeline operator RWE Transgas said the flow of gas “delivered by the transit pipe line system through the Ukraine and Slovakia to the Czech republic and other EU countries has dropped significantly.” It said it would increase purchases of Norwegian gas delivered via another pipeline.
The Romanian Economy Ministry also released a statement saying that a pipeline delivering Gazprom gas had been shut down. A second pipeline in the north of the country continues to operate, however.
Werner Auli, a member of the OMV executive board said in a statement: “The supply of natural gas to our customers is still secured for the time being.”
Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, had already begun reducing deliveries Monday for transit through Ukraine to Western European customers, saying it was seeking to make up for gas stolen by Ukraine. The Gazprom chief executive, Aleksei B. Miller, said in a conversation with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin broadcast Monday on Russian state television that Gazprom would reduce exports bound for Western Europe through Ukrainian pipes by the same amount that it accused Ukraine of diverting.
Gazprom had already cut off all fuel supplies meant for Ukraine over the dispute. It said that any countries that suffer shortages as a result should blame Ukraine for not paying a fair price for Russia’s natural gas.
Russia and Ukraine, which has a pro-Western government, have been haggling over gas prices for years, in disputes that often carry political overtones. In the current fracas, Ukraine resisted an increase in Russian gas to $250 per 1,000 cubic meters from the current $179.50. Russia then raised the price to $418 for the same volume and again to $450.
The Russian announcement Monday was, in essence, a partial Russian fuel embargo of Europe, something policy makers in Western capitals have feared for some time as relations with Moscow bottomed out last summer following the war in Georgia.
The announcement took the form of a conversation between Mr. Putin and Mr. Miller during an evening newscast.
As they have in the past, the men accused Ukraine of diverting gas from pipelines that send it through Ukraine to Europe, something the Ukrainian government has denied doing.
Mr. Putin asked Mr. Miller how much Ukraine had diverted. About 65.3 million cubic meters of natural gas since Jan. 1, the executive said. “What are you going to do?” Mr. Putin then asked.
Mr. Miller responded that he was considering ordering Gazprom to immediately cut exports bound for Western Europe through Ukrainian pipes by this same amount, which is more than the 43 million cubic meters of gas used in Poland every day.
He said Gazprom would seek to mitigate shortages by shipping more gas through Belarus and Turkey, and by withdrawing gas from storage. But he suggested that European nations should blame Ukraine for likely deficits of heating fuel.
Mr. Putin asked, “How about the supplies to our Western European consumers under long-term contracts?” Mr. Miller said that Europe would only lack what “Ukraine had stolen.”
Mr. Putin then said: “Good, I agree, cut it from today.”
In the days ahead, Mr. Miller added, Gazprom would each day reduce the volume of gas supplied at Ukraine’s border and intended for re-export to Europe by the amount it suspects Ukraine of diverting from the pipelines.
Russia diminished the flow of gas to Ukraine on Jan. 1 by about 100 million cubic meters per day. Since then, Russia has accused Ukraine of withdrawing gas from the export pipelines. Ukraine countered that it was diverting only enough fuel, about 21 million cubic meters, to power compressors.
Authorities in Kiev said they were meeting internal demand from reserves and domestic production.
While ostensibly intended to force higher payments on Ukraine, the latest cuts directly affect gas bound for Western markets, something that energy experts said was seemingly designed to drag the European Union into the dispute, forcing it to assume a mediating role, assist Ukraine with payments or face shortages in its member nations’ markets.
In 2006, a similar dispute prompted the European Union to side with Kiev. This time the bloc has urged a swift end to the crisis, but it has so far refused to get involved. “It has to be resolved by the two parties,” said Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, an energy spokesman for the European Commission in Brussels.
The global recession has reduced demand for energy and allowed many countries to salt away stockpiles in national reserves, making any embargo easier to weather than in 2006. |
![[User Picture Icon]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/31505370/7530277) |
| From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) h_ninja |
|---|
| Date: |
January 6th, 2009 05:47 pm (UTC) |
|---|
|
|
|
|
(Link) |
|
![[User Picture Icon]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/11732122/467447) |
| From: | cusm |
|---|
| Date: |
January 6th, 2009 10:37 pm (UTC) |
|---|
|
|
|
|
(Link) |
|
Who run Bartertown?
|
|
