Posted on 01/02/2006 12:59:43 PM PST by M. Espinola
VIENNA, Austria -- Gas supplies to much of Europe fell sharply Monday in the fallout of Moscow's pricing dispute with Ukraine while several nations urged energy-hungry industries to switch to oil and rationing began in Serbia.
Serbia was worst affected, with its gas deliveries cut in half. But other nations also reported susbtantial losses of between 18 and 40 percent. Apart from Serbia, gas was flowing normally to homes and businesses thanks to stored supplies.
Despite the dispute, gas prices rose only marginally on Monday on world markets.
Still, with the 25-nation European Union counting on Russia for a quarter of its natural gas needs - mostly through Ukraine - concern rose that a prolonged standoff could spell severe problems.
The German government urged Russia and Ukraine to compromise quickly in order to resolve their dispute over natural gas deliveries.
Russia took over the rotating presidency of the Group of Eight most wealthy nations on Sunday, with President Vladimir Putin looking to convert his country's energy wealth into political influence.
East European countries - many with a record of decades of energy dependency on Moscow established during a half century of domination by the former Soviet Union - were the most hurt Monday.
Hungary reported gas supplies down by 40 percent after Russia's OAO Gazprom cut deliveries to neighboring Ukraine, which acts as a transit country for most of Russia's gas consignment to Europe. Russian gas amounts to about 80 percent of Hungary's needs.
MOL, the country's national wholesaler, said households would not be immediately threatened but joined providers in other nations in urging major industrial consumers to switch to backup oil systems. And MOL official Sandor Kantor said his company was cutting deliveries southward to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Serbia said it was receiving 50 percent less gas than normal. Aleksandar Kosadinovic, deputy director of Srbija Gas, the main distributor, said hospitals, schools and other vital consumers were being given priority.
Moldova has not received Russian gas supplies for two days, said President Vladimir Voronin, saying that prices had inexplicably doubled, making it too expensive for the former Soviet republic to renew a contract with Russian company Gazprom.
Polish Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak said gas deliveries at the Polish-Ukrainian border had risen to about 65 percent of the daily norm, from a low of 50 percent on Sunday.
Apparently referring to fears of a complete collapse in deliveries from Russia, Economy Minister Pitor Wozniak said the country had stocks of "seven or eight days."
Romania's deliveries from Russia were down by 25 percent, said officials, but unseasonably warm weather eased immediate concerns.
In Austria, the OMV energy conglomerate said that natural gas imports from Russia via Ukraine were down by a third over usual levels. Slovak state oil company official Alexander Nemudrov told Russia's Gazprom-owned NTV television on Monday that it was receiving just 60 percent of the gas it needs to export further West.
A leading German importer of Russian gas, Wintershall AG, said it was seeing a noticeable reduction in the amount of gas arriving via Ukraine. And the E.On Ruhrgas natural gas distributor said deliveries to big businesses could be crimped by the dispute.
German industry can draw on stocks holding up to 75 days worth of gas as well as imports from other countries such as Norway and the Netherlands, economy ministry spokeswoman Sabine Maass said.
Italy and other nations with diversified gas sources were less affected. But oil and gas giant Eni Spa on Monday was measuring a "considerable reduction" in the pressure of the gas flow from Russia, Italian news agencies reported.
The crisis comes amid a harsh winter that has blanketed most of northern and central Italy in snow and already depleted the country's gas reserves.
"In the long term we cannot afford to give up" Russian natural gas, said Eni chief executive Paolo Scaroni.
Norway's Statoil ASA - a major North Sea producer - cautioned other European countries that it was not able to provide relief.
"We already are producing as much as we can, so there's not much we can do to meet a shortfall," said spokesman Ola Morten Aanestad.
The gas dispute was the focus of a planned meeting of European energy officials set for Wednesday in Brussels. In announcing the meeting Friday, EU Energy Commisioner Andris Pielbalgs said the EU's Gas Coordination Group would deal "with all eventualities."
Graphics added
Will Putin also use oil as an economic weapon? Oil pipeline below:
bttt
bttt
The watermellons of Europe are applauding their comrade in Russia.
I bet they are kicking themselves now.
Info:
"Seventeen experimental and commercial reactors have been shut down and are being decommissioned. Five of these are VVER-440 units at Greifswald, closed in 1990 following reunification. Five are various BWRs, two are HTGRs, one is the large and relatively modern Muelheim-Kaerlich PWR shut down since 1988, one is Stade PWR closed in November 2003, one is Obrigheim PWR closed in May 2005, one is a prototype GCHWR and one is a prototype VVER."
"In June 2001 the leaders of the Red-Green coalition government and the four main energy companies signed an agreement to give effect to this 2000 compromise. The companies' undertaking to limit the operational lives of the reactors to an average of 32 yearsmeant that two of the least economic ones - Stade and Obrigheim - were shut down in 2003 and 2005 respectively, and the one non-operational reactor (Muelheim-Kaerlich, 1219 MWe) is being decommissioned from 2003. It also prohibited the construction of new nuclear power plants for the time being and introduces the principle of on-site storage for spent fuel."
"Germany's other main fuel for base-load electricity is brown coal (which produces about 1.25 tonnes of carbon dioxide per MWh). Over half the country's electricity now comes from coal. Arising from the Kyoto accord, and as part of the differentiated EU "bubble", Germany is committed to a 21% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2010."
2000 data:
"Natural gas accounts for 21 % of primary energy consumption in Germany, second only to fuel oil (39 %), but well ahead of coal (14 %), nuclear power (13 %) and lignite (10 %). Some 47 % of this natural gas is consumed by the domestic/ commercial sector and 25 % by industry, while district heat generation, non-energy use and own use make up 15% and power generation so far 13%. On the whole, natural gas consumption in 1999 stood at 905 billion kWh or 93 billion m3. Over the next 20 years, it is expected to grow by approximately 25 %. With a 32% share, natural gas has become the prime energy source for German industry, just ahead of electric power with 30.4%."source
With all the Muslims coming into Germany, they probably thought it safest to close the nuclear plants before they were used as a weapon.
Precisely. I thank God I am not dependent on the "Soviets" for my gas and heating supplies.
Republicans had better start playing these things up in order to get drilling in ANWAR.
You know it's incredible I have seen on other threads there is a grouping of Putin promoters, those which claim to be conservatives yet are wholeheartedly supporting this power happy dictator.
"How 'bout some more beans, Mr. Taggart?"
That is a point to consider, however the West (even the E.U.) can not show any signs of caving into the the al-Qaida enemy. Increasing security measures is the far better course of action since Germany and other E.U. states are lock into Moscow, in part, for their natural gas supplies.
It's cold with tons of snow so far in various portions of Europe having additional nuclear power plants, construction of new coal gasification plants, coupled with increasing other methods of generating electrical power must be top priority, in order to break off from OPEC & Russian crude oil plus natural gas dependency. The same goes for America.
Clarification is required on that one..(?)
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