Russian natural gas supplies to Europe were curtailed for a third straight day Friday, as particularly cold winter weather increased Russia's domestic demand and hit flows to a number of European Union countries.
Russian natural gas supplies to
Europe
were
curtailed for a third straight day Friday, as particularly cold winter weather
increased
Russia
's
domestic demand and hit flows to a number of European Union countries.
"There has been a decrease in gas deliveries," Marlene Holzner, a
spokeswoman for EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, told reporters. "
Russia
needs
more gas itself, they are having an extremely cold winter," she said.
Holzner noted that the situation is not causing an emergency because all
affected member states are currently able to meet the supply shortfall by
buying gas from neighbors, using storage capacity, or importing liquefied
natural gas.
The EU Friday afternoon activated a group of industry, government and energy
experts that gather in emergency cases. It has started sharing information and
is monitoring the situation, Holzner said.
She said that while exact figures for Friday aren't yet available, Thursday's
supplies from
Russia
to
Austria
declined by 30%, to
Italy
by
24% and to
Poland
by
8%.
Other countries affected include
Slovakia
,
Hungary
,
Bulgaria
,
Romania
and
Greece
.
Ukraine
, a
transit country for around two-thirds of Russian gas supplies to
Europe
, was
the first to be hit.
"There is a significant cold snap in
Russia
and
the supply of gas to the country (
Ukraine
) has
fallen significantly," Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko said Friday
in comments confirmed by a spokesman.
Any reduction in gas flows from
Russia
attracts strong attention in the EU, after repeated crises in recent years. In
2009, a tough dispute over price between
Russia
and
Ukraine
caused
Moscow
's gas supplies to EU countries to plunge,
crippling the flow to some countries for weeks.
Russian state gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) gave advance warning to EU
companies about the possible flow reductions, an EU official said Friday,
noting there was currently no reason to believe there was any ill intent behind
the disruption.
The impact on EU member countries has been mixed.
Poland
's
natural gas monopoly PGNiG SA (PGN.WA) said it expects small scale
irregularities in gas deliveries coming over its eastern border in the next few
days due to the low temperatures throughout
Europe
, but
noted that supplies from Gazprom have returned to the amounts ordered.
Franco-Belgian power operator GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) meanwhile said it didn't
notice any change in supplies as of Friday.
But in
Italy
,
Russian gas flow was 29% less than requested for Friday via an entry point in
the north-east of the country, according to data available on the website of
Snam SpA (SRG.MI), which runs the gas grid, as of 1300 GMT.
Russia
represents around 30% of
Italy
's
imports, with the rest coming mainly from
Algeria
,
Libya
,
Norway
, and
Qatari Liquefied natural gas.
Wingas--Germany's second-largest importer of gas and a 50-50 joint venture
between German chemicals giant BASF SE's (BAS.XE) Wintershall unit and
Gazprom--also said Friday Russian gas was arriving in reduced volumes, but
declined to quantify the amount. But Wingas added that there was no issue in
terms of security of supply because the company is well diversified and has
solid levels of storage.
Since the 2009 crisis, the EU has significantly improved its capacity to
respond to gas shortages. Member countries have improved storage capacity and
increased interconnections to enable the movement of gas in many different
directions among them.
EU countries are obliged to stock natural gas equivalent to 30 days of
consumption. However, the EU official said there is uncertainty about whether
all the region's 27 member states are in compliance with that rule.
Russia
's gas
imports account for roughly 25% of the total EU gas consumption.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01