Russia's state gas company Gazprom yesterday boosted natural gas exports to Europe to redress sudden shortfalls after it cut supplies to Ukraine, and offered some form of compensation for disruptions.
Although Ukraine continued to siphon off gas from the European exports, Gazprom would make good losses, a spokesman said in Moscow.
But the company was not prepared to cover the "theft" of gas indefinitely, he added.
A special meeting of the EU's natural gas coordination group is to take place in Brussels today to discuss supplies amid an increasingly bitter war of words between Russia and Ukraine.
Despite the rhetoric, the two sides were to hold talks yesterday on resolving the gas cutoff, a spokesman for Gazprom said.
Spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said that Ukrainian officials were on their way to Moscow for the talks at Gazprom's headquarters. He did not specify who would be taking part, but said the talks would be "at a sufficiently high level."
Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov called on the EU yesterday to put pressure on Ukraine to ensure that full supplies of Russian gas transit to European countries.
"We ask that influence be exerted on the Ukrainian side to bring it back to lawfulness and guarantee it completely fulfil international commitments of the unimpeded transit of natural gas through Ukrainian territory to European Union countries," he wrote in a letter quoted by Russian news agencies.
He said Russia was ready "to fulfil strictly all existing agreements and contracts with our EU partners in the interests of strengthening the energy security of the continent."
The letter was sent to Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who took over as EU president on Sunday, state-owned RIA-Novosti and ITAR-TASS news agencies said.
Gazprom cut deliveries to Ukraine on Sunday in a dispute over price. Since it sends about 80 percent of its European export volume through Ukraine, supplies were also disrupted to a number of other countries.
Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Serbia-Montenegro, Romania, Italy and France all reported decreases of up to 30 percent in the amount of Russian gas received since Jan. 1.
The company said it would add 3.96 million cubic meters an hour of gas shipments to Europe to compensate for the shortages.
Austria's oil and gas group OMV director Wolfgang Ruttersdorfer confirmed that the vital energy supply was flowing again, saying late on Monday that Russia had started delivering a "full supply" of gas to countries in Europe.
Poland's PGNiG fuels distribution company said yesterday that pressure in Poland's natural gas pipelines had also returned to normal levels. Overall Poland saw a relatively small 8 percent decline in Russian deliveries from Ukraine during the crisis.
Gazprom will also increase supplies to Europe through the Yamal-Europe pipeline that crosses Belarus and through the Blue Stream pipeline to Turkey, spokesman Kupriyanov said.
The showdown between Moscow and Kiev has sent a shiver across the EU, which gets 25 percent of its gas supplies from Russia.
also see story:
Oil rises on worry over growing Ukraine gas dispute
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS