EUROPE: The energy ministers of Germany, Italy, France and Austria have written to Russia and Ukraine, urging them to ensure a steady flow of gas to Europe despite the two ex-Soviet republics' stand-off over prices for the key energy source.
However, France is confident Russia's decision to cut Ukraine's gas was unlikely to affect it because of assurances Russia had given and the diversity of French supply, industry minister Francois Loos said yesterday.
Mr Loos said 20 per cent of France's gas supply is piped from Russia through Ukraine, but that he did not think supplies would be disrupted.
"With the assurances that we have from the Russians on the one hand, and with our policy of diversification of suppliers, there is no risk to supplies for France," he said.
Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine yesterday in a dispute that could hit deliveries to Europe as Moscow takes over as chairman of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised democracies.
Mr Loos said he expected Russia to act responsibly.
"They will take the presidency [of the G8] in 2006 . . . so they have a sense of responsibility," he said.
In the unlikely event Ukraine would take the gas it needed from that destined for Europe, Mr Loos said this would translate into a 4 per cent reduction in the amount of Russian gas arriving in France.
"That's the worst scenario. I don't believe it would happen but, if it was the case, we could compensate for it by increasing the amount we have from our other contracts," he said.
Russia's cut in gas deliveries to Ukraine has reduced Poland's supplies by 14 per cent, officials said yesterday, while assuring consumers the shortfall would be covered by domestic reserves.
The country's economy minister Piotr Wozniak said talks were also under way that may enable Poland to compensate for the lost pressure from the Ukrainian supply point by increasing the amount of gasflowing in from Belarus as early as last night.
"For now, we have an almost normal situation," Mr Wozniak told journalists at a briefing.
In their letter to Moscow, the four EU states said: "May we remind you that Gazprom and companies operating in the states of the undersigned ministers have entertained close business relationships for years and that, not least because of the reliability of gas supplies from Russia, the sales of natural gas in the EU could be continuously increased in recent times.
"A reduction of natural gas supplies at this point in time would not only come unexpectedly but could also lead to not-insignificant problems for natural gas supplies in western Europe," the letter said.
Russian gas deliveries to Hungary via Ukraine fell by more than 25 per cent yesterday and big gas consumers have been ordered to switch to oil where possible, said Hungary's natural gas wholesaler, MOL.
"Gas shipments are now down by more than 25 per cent after a 5 to 10 per cent fall in the morning so starting tomorrow, we're ordering big consumers (who have the technology) to switch to oil," said MOL spokesman Sandor Kantor .
Yesterday, Ukrainian prime minister Yuriy Yekhanurov hotly denied Russian allegations that it was siphoning off gas intended for European users.
"Today we are not using a single cubic metre of Russian gas," he said.
Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko also denounced Russia for imposing "obvious economic pressure on Ukraine".
Relations between Russia and Ukraine have been stiff and chilly over the past year, since Mr Yushchenko came to power and vowed to move the country out of Russia's sphere of influence.
EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs said last week that Europe could cope with a temporary interruption to its gas supply.
EU energy experts will meet on Wednesday to examine the situation.
Supply problems to Europe could undermine western trust in Russia's natural gas industry, one of the cornerstones of the country's economy.
This could tarnish Russia's stint as chairman of the Group of Eight, which formally started yesterday.