Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent
PARIS, Jan. 7 -- All Russian gas supplies through Ukraine were shut down early Jan. 7 in a further escalation of the OAO Gazprom-Naftogaz pricing dispute, leaving some European Union and Balkan countries, now facing bitter cold temperatures, with no gas supplies from Russia.
The EU has access to other sources, including Russian gas from other pipelines, as well as gas from the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands. But some countries are more dependent on gas transiting through the Ukraine than others.
Hardest hit by the supply cuts was the western Balkan route to Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, and Turkey, however Slovakia, Italy, and Austria could also suffer from shortfalls if cuts are prolonged.
For Turkey, gas from Russia is still available via a line that extends beneath the Black Sea. Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, meanwhile, have sufficient stocks for some days. Other countries have large gas reserves or other supply sources.
The European Commission is actively organizing meetings to find a solution for the crisis. The Gas Coordination Group meeting planned for Jan. 9 in Brussels should be the one to take action with emergency measures for countries with few energy alternatives. The GCG includes gas experts from each EU member state and representatives from national gas companies and transmission operators.
The EC still insists that it is a commercial dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz in which it cannot interfere, while urging with increasing force the two sides to resume gas supplies immediately.
However, the EU will hold a meeting Jan. 8 of its foreign affairs ministers in Prague under the Czech presidency to work out how a more-active role can be played to bring the dispute to a permanent and satisfactory close. This could bring in the polical dimension of the crisis but also disagreement among the 27 as Eastern countries are willing to exercise some clout on Russia while most Western countries do not want to harm their relations with Moscow.
