EU ambassadors meet on Ukraine gas row
VALENTINA POP
05.01.2009 @ 09:27 CET
Deputy ambassadors from the 27 EU countries are to hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday (5 January) in Brussels, after gas disruptions were registered in several EU states amid the Russia-Ukraine gas row.
Russia on Sunday asked the European Union to provide monitoring of Ukraine's gas transit system and accused Kiev of siphoning off 50 million cubic meters of gas bound for Europe.
Gazprom pipeline. After cutting supplies to Ukraine, Russia says Kiev is siphoning off EU gas (Photo: gazprom.ru)
Ukraine denied the accusations and said Russia was under-supplying its EU customers on purpose.
"If the Russian side does not provide more gas [to EU member states] than at the moment, then in around 10 days there could be very serious technical problems," said top Ukrainian energy official Bogdan Sokolovsky.
"The transit of gas may be disrupted at some point," he added. "It will not be our fault."
The exchange of accusations followed a decision taken by Gazprom on 1 January to cut supplies to Ukraine after failed negotiations on outstanding debt and a price increase for Ukrainian consumers.
"Given that [Ukrainian state energy company] Naftogaz is not allowing monitors engaged by Gazprom into its gas monitoring stations, we sent a letter to the European Commission with proposals for ensuring independent monitoring of volumes of gas transiting Ukraine," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said.
EU stays out
European Commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas told AFP that the European Union had no plans to get involved in a dispute which he described as a "bilateral problem."
The EU presidency, which the Czech Republic took over on January 1, has also said it won't mediate in the "commercial dispute" between Moscow and Kiev, but insisted on compliance with delivery commitments for western Europe.
Some 80 percent of Europe's gas imports from Russia transit Ukraine, with Naftogaz, the local gas operator claiming it has used out its own reserves in order to maintain EU supplies at the normal levels.
Russia was "manipulating" the supply route, Naftogaz said in a statement, warning Europe of serious disruptions in the coming days if Gazprom went ahead with its announced plan of slashing one branch of the transit network towards Europe, known as Soyuz, which carried 52 million cubic meters daily.
The volume of 52 million cubic meters is close to the winter consumption of a medium-sized country such as Hungary, with a population of 10 million.
Artery shutdown threat
The closure of such a major artery would make it impossible for Ukraine to transfer all the gas which European Union states have paid for by other pipelines, even if Gazprom offered to supply the gas, Naftogaz said.
A spokesman for the Czech EU presidency said there was no independent way of verifying how much gas is currently going through Ukraine .
"The situation is extremely unclear and there are contradictory information on the question of responsibilities," he said.
