Gas supplies to Europe to resume

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-12 07:33

Ukraine, Russia and the EU struck an agreement Sunday that should enable the resumption of Russian supplies via Ukraine to Europe, large parts of which have been plunged into a mid-winter energy crisis.

The Yamal-Europe gas transfer station near the Belarus town of Nesvizh. Russia and Ukraine have signed an accord on natural gas transit allowing resumption of Russian supply to Europe as early as Sunday and an end to one of Europe's worst energy crises, officials said. [Agencies]

But it was unlikely the gas would reach Europe earlier than tomorrow, nearly two weeks after a gas price row broke out between Moscow and Kiev, choking off supplies and raising new questions about the EU's reliance on Russian energy.

The agreement signed yesterday is for international teams of monitors to deploy to pumping stations along the route of gas pipelines through Russia and Ukraine to Europe - a condition set by Moscow to start gas flowing again.

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom said the firm was waiting to receive a faxed copy of the agreement, signed in the early hours yesterday in the Ukrainian capital, before letting monitors start work.

Once they are in place, the gas taps will be re-opened but it is likely to be a further 36 hours before the fuel reaches customers in Europe because of the time it will take for pressure to build up in the pipeline network.

"Monitors are ready to fly to gas compressor stations in Russia, Ukraine and Europe. They can get there today, which means gas can resume flowing today as well," a Gazprom official said.

Europe receives 80 percent of its Russian gas - or a fifth of its total needs - from pipelines that run via Ukraine.

The gas disruptions have led many European countries to question whether Russia and Ukraine, which have clashed repeatedly over gas and Kiev's drive to join the NATO alliance, are reliable energy partners.

The presence of the monitors at pumping stations is designed to reassure Russia that all the gas it sends via Ukraine is reaching customers in Europe.

Moscow had earlier accused Kiev of siphoning off gas intended for Europe, a charge Ukraine denied.

Even once gas starts flowing again to Europe, Ukraine will still be without Russian gas for its own use. The latest talks on a new contract ended without result on Saturday.

Anger at disruptions

Moscow and Kiev have blamed each other for the disruptions, which began on New Year's Day when Gazprom cut off all supplies for Ukraine's own use after failing to reach agreement on a new gas supply contract.

Since then, a total of 18 countries have suffered problems with their gas supplies..

Eastern and central Europe have borne the brunt of the supply disruptions, with Bulgaria shutting schools because it could not heat them and Slovakia saying it would re-start a nuclear reactor which it shut down last year.

Heating has returned to hundreds of thousands of homes in the Balkans since Friday as energy companies switched to alternative fuels and started importing gas from elsewhere.

Temperatures overnight fell to minus 17 degrees C in some parts of the Balkans. In Bulgaria, many people were still using electric heaters to compensate for lower-than-normal gas heating.