Report: Russia admits to problems with gas exports to EU

Feb 4, 2012, 13:26 GMT

Moscow - Russia has acknowledged European complaints over lower natural gas supplies, with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin saying state energy company Gazprom faced increased Russian demand because of the extreme cold, Interfax news agency reported.

But Putin said that Gazprom would do its best to meet the needs of its European partners.

Gazprom deputy chairmen Alexander Medvedev and Andrei Kruglov, who met Putin Saturday, said the company was delivering as much gas as it could under the current conditions.

Russia supplies roughly one-quarter of Europe's natural gas needs, more than two-thirds of which is delivered via pipelines crossing the Ukraine.

On Thursday, senior officials at Gazprom said European gas importers Poland, Austria and Italy were receiving between 10 and 30 per cent less Russian gas than needed because of increased gas consumption in the Ukraine.

But Ukraine's state-owned natural gas transportation company Naftohaz Ukrainy denied that the country had been tapping more Russian gas than contracted.

Russian gas deliveries to Europe have been halted twice, in mid-winter in 2006 and 2009. Both stoppages stemmed from gas pricing disputes between Ukraine and Russia, with nations in the EU's east and south worst hit by downstream shortages.

Both countries have since promised to do their part to provide uninterrupted supplies of natural gas to the EU.

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