EU gas halted as deal fades
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Daily News with wires
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 14, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Russia's natural gas supplies bound for a freezing Europe were halted yesterday only hours after starting again, with Russian and Ukrainian officials blaming each other for the hitch.
As an EU-brokered accord between Russia and transit state Ukraine appeared to break down, Russian Gazprom, accused the United States of orchestrating Ukraine's actions in a gas dispute.
Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz said it was blocking transit of the gas through its territory because Gazprom was imposing "unacceptable" conditions for the transit. Gazprom's deputy chief Alexander Medvedev was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying: "In these circumstances, we physically can't carry out transit of gas through Ukraine's territory." "The Ukrainian side cynically informed us that the gas transport system had been reoriented to domestic consumers," he added.
State television broadcasts images from Sudzha, a gas pipeline terminal on the border between Russia and Ukraine, with local official Alexei Fyodorov saying: "Ukraine is not taking the gas."
Spokeswoman of the European Commission in Brussels reported that "little or no gas" was reaching Europe through Ukraine. "This situation is obviously very serious and needs to improve rapidly," she said, according to Agence France-Presse. The European Commission also urged Russia and Ukraine to allow EU monitors deployed as part of an agreement to monitor gas flows through Ukraine to be given full access to dispatching centers in Moscow and Kiev after problems were reported.
Meanwhile, Turkey stepped in to resolve the gas row between Russia and Ukraine. As Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press yesterday, Energy Minister Hilmi Güler was set to arrive in Moscow to discuss the latest situation over the gas dispute, reported CNNTürk on its Web site.
Russia announced it had partially resumed supplies to Europe through Ukraine after 0700 GMT, with EU mediation apparently bringing to a close a crisis that has set off alarm bells over energy security. Factories have been closed down, schools suspended and hundreds of thousands of homes left without gas heating over the past week across the worst-hit regions of central and eastern Europe. Russia said it would initially pump only "test" amounts of gas after a deal that had been hailed by the EU's executive arm. But the truce in what Russian media is calling a "gas war" was always going to be fragile.
Gazprom hints at ’USrole’
Gazprom, meanwhile, hinted yesterday that the United States may be controlling the actions of its ally Ukraine in the row. "We believed that the door for Russian gas was open but again it's been blocked by the Ukrainians," Reuters news agency quoted Gazprom Deputy CEO Medvedev as saying. "It looks like... they are dancing to the music which is being orchestrated not in Kiev but outside the country." Medvedev said he was referring to an agreement signed between Ukraine and the US. Ukraine has repeatedly warned of problems in resuming supplies, with much attention paid to the issue of "technical gas" used to maintain pipeline pressure and keep supplies moving.
Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz said it was blocking transit of the gas through its territory because Gazprom was imposing "unacceptable" conditions for the transit. Gazprom's deputy chief Alexander Medvedev was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying: "In these circumstances, we physically can't carry out transit of gas through Ukraine's territory." "The Ukrainian side cynically informed us that the gas transport system had been reoriented to domestic consumers," he added.
State television broadcasts images from Sudzha, a gas pipeline terminal on the border between Russia and Ukraine, with local official Alexei Fyodorov saying: "Ukraine is not taking the gas."
Spokeswoman of the European Commission in Brussels reported that "little or no gas" was reaching Europe through Ukraine. "This situation is obviously very serious and needs to improve rapidly," she said, according to Agence France-Presse. The European Commission also urged Russia and Ukraine to allow EU monitors deployed as part of an agreement to monitor gas flows through Ukraine to be given full access to dispatching centers in Moscow and Kiev after problems were reported.
Meanwhile, Turkey stepped in to resolve the gas row between Russia and Ukraine. As Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press yesterday, Energy Minister Hilmi Güler was set to arrive in Moscow to discuss the latest situation over the gas dispute, reported CNNTürk on its Web site.
Russia announced it had partially resumed supplies to Europe through Ukraine after 0700 GMT, with EU mediation apparently bringing to a close a crisis that has set off alarm bells over energy security. Factories have been closed down, schools suspended and hundreds of thousands of homes left without gas heating over the past week across the worst-hit regions of central and eastern Europe. Russia said it would initially pump only "test" amounts of gas after a deal that had been hailed by the EU's executive arm. But the truce in what Russian media is calling a "gas war" was always going to be fragile.
Gazprom hints at ’USrole’
Gazprom, meanwhile, hinted yesterday that the United States may be controlling the actions of its ally Ukraine in the row. "We believed that the door for Russian gas was open but again it's been blocked by the Ukrainians," Reuters news agency quoted Gazprom Deputy CEO Medvedev as saying. "It looks like... they are dancing to the music which is being orchestrated not in Kiev but outside the country." Medvedev said he was referring to an agreement signed between Ukraine and the US. Ukraine has repeatedly warned of problems in resuming supplies, with much attention paid to the issue of "technical gas" used to maintain pipeline pressure and keep supplies moving.