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Germany hoarding gas as Russia-Ukraine tiff looms
Dec 23, 2008, 10:44 GMT
Berlin - Germany has kept its stores of gas full as a fresh, end-of-year dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices looms, according to a Berlin official Tuesday.
The Economics Ministry spokeswoman said German gas distributors had assured Berlin there would be no shortages in Germany because of the dispute.
'The storage is pretty full,' she said, referring to the rock formations into which Germany injects vast quantities of Siberian natural gas so that it has gas to heat buildings and run factories through the winter.
She said Berlin hoped Moscow and Kiev would settle their conflict on the gas issue before 2008 ends.
The Russian gas-export monopoly, Gazprom, and the Russian government have warned European consumers of possible disruptions in supplies pumped through Ukrainian territory at the start of 2009.
Gazprom is raising pressure and threatening cuts to Kiev over a 2- billion-dollar debt.
About 80 per cent of Russian gas exports to western Europe use pipelines across Ukrainian territory.
A breakdown in a similar gas pricing dispute between Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz at the start of 2006 led to fuel shortages and a price spike across Europe in the dead of winter.
Russia accused Ukraine of helping itself to gas from the transit pipelines, but Kiev denied it did so.
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