Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 14, 2009 09:32
Turkey's energy minister, currently holding talks in Moscow, said Wednesday that his country has maintained mediation efforts to resolve the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine and that they wanted to be the part of the solution.
Turkey's Energy Minister Hilmi Guler arrived in Moscow Tuesday to hold meetings with officials on the recent dispute between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas and energy investments.
Russia resumed natural gas supplies on Tuesday after international experts were placed along the pipeline route through Ukraine under an agreement reached with the EU, only to shut them off again several hours later.
Guler said Turkey has maintained its mediation efforts to resolve the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine and wanted to be the part of the solution.
"As part of the solution, our talks with the two parties continue. I don't know what you would call it, but we are doing our best to secure a solution to the problem," Anatolian Agency reported Guler as saying citing a Russian newspaper, when Turkey's role in solving the issue was asked.
Turkey's high dependence on natural gas and Russia in particular for its energy needs has translated into an anxious wait for the dispute to be resolved.
Guler also said the decision was Russia's, when he was asked if they might consider joining the Nabucco pipeline project in a bid to lessen their dependency on Ukraine.
The multi-national Nabucco project will carry gas to western Europe across Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to Austria, from the Caspian Sea and aims to reduce dependency on Russian energy supplies.
UKRAINE REFUSES TO TRANSIT
Ukraine refused to transit Russian natural gas to several countries in Europe, Russian gas giant Gazprom said.
Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz "refused to accept Russian gas" at one of the main entry points to the Ukrainian transit system, the company said in a statement.
Gazprom said it had sent a standard request to Naftogaz to allow shipment of 98.9 million cubic meters of Russian gas through the Sudzha transit station on the Russia-Ukraine border.
Instead, according to Gazprom, Naftogaz asked for the gas to be piped into the system through two other access points that are designed primarily for providing domestic supply to Ukraine.
"This systematic evasion by Naftogaz Ukraine confirms that Ukraine is not capable of halting unsanctioned withdrawals of Russian gas from the system and renewing transit" to customers in Europe, the statement said.
Ukraine separately charged that Russia’s selection of transit routes was making a resumption of shipments to Europe impossible.
Gazprom said that on the Russian side the gas taps were open and the pipeline pressure was adequate to get the gas to European clients.
"Gazprom is prepared any time to ensure delivery of gas to customers in Europe," the statement added.
ROW HIT COUNTRIES IN MOSCOW
Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico were also due in Moscow to meet with their Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the gas crisis.
Both countries are among those to have been badly hit by the gas crisis, which has continued despite EU efforts to broker a solution.
The Ukrainian government said in a statement that the two European prime ministers would also visit Kiev later Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Gazprom accused Ukraine of blocking the gas, while Ukraine countered that the Russian energy giant had deliberately routed the gas in a way that made it impossible for Ukraine to pump it on to European consumers.
EU PRESSURE
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso expressed the "EUs disappointment" in a phone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Putin after the bloc reported "little or no gas" reaching Europe from Russia.
Russia initially cut off supplies for Ukraine on New Years Day after a dispute over late payments and a failure to agree on a price for 2009, but last week shut off all supplies after accusing Kiev of siphoning off gas transiting the country to Europe.
Ukraine has hotly contested accusations it has stolen gas, and the EU-brokered monitor deal was meant to overcome this issue.
