Russia gas disruption bites in Europe

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: Reuters

Russia's worsening gas dispute with Ukraine cut supplies on Tuesday to Turkey and a swathe of European countries, threatening disruption as far west as Italy and Germany.

The European Union, dependent on Russia for a quarter of its gas, urged Moscow and Kiev to find a solution this week. The head of Ukraine's state energy firm said he would fly to Moscow on Thursday.

Bulgaria, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece and Croatia said flows of Russian gas via Ukraine had come to a halt, creating what Bulgaria called a "crisis situation" in the middle of winter.

European Union member states Austria and Romania said deliveries were down 90 percent and 75 percent respectively, and German energy firms warned there could be gas shortages in Europe's biggest economy if the dispute dragged on and sub-zero temperatures persisted.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL6560699200901...

[WriteDown]

1. This isn't exactly

going to engender any warm feelings for Russia in Europe.

[dipsydoodle]

2. The blame lies with the Ukraine

not with Russia. Russia has already said it will re-route supplies to Europe as soon as possible. The Ukrainians are siphoning off supplies destined for Europe.

This is a repetitive issue : from Jan. 2006


Ukraine 'stealing Europe's gas'

Ukraine gets 30% of its gas from Russia

Russia has accused Ukraine of stealing $25m of gas exports destined for Europe after it cut off supplies to the country on Sunday.

Countries as far west as France say supplies from a pipeline running via Ukraine have fallen by up to 40%.

Ukraine denied taking the gas, but said it would siphon off a share if temperatures fell much below freezing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4574630.stm

[WriteDown]

3. So you are buying the accusation?

Why exactly?

[dipsydoodle]

4. I can't even grasp

why on earth you should think that are any bad feelings whatsoever in Europe toward Russia.

[WriteDown]

6. Really?

You can't grasp? http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/eu...

[dipsydoodle]

7. That just reiterates other news items

including the one I gave you for 2006. In terms of cause and effect the root cause is Ukraines unwillingless to pay. If they'd paid up the issue wouldn't have arisen.

The blame lies solely with the USA's lacky the Ukraine so just deal with it.

[WriteDown]

8. So you support a monopoly

forcing people to freeze to death? Did you get a good retirement at Enron?

[Bodhi BloodWave]

9. i support people paying a fair share for the product they want

Ukraine refuses to pay a fair price for it, as such they do not get it. fairly common sense to me, Russia isn't required to give away their resources

[WriteDown]

10. What's fair...

All signs point to Russia getting more desperate as the price of oil has fallen. I never trust a monopoly.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Nothing is free in this world sunshine

now go back to playing with yourself.

[WriteDown]

12. So you're the kind of person who

charge 10$ for a bottle of water after a hurricane and 10K for a generator. Got to respond to demand, right?

[Nihil]

14. Beats supporting Bush trolls for a living

Why is it that you *always* support whichever Bush-sponsored faction is in
the argument?

The odd occasion could be put down to chance but the consistency that you
have shown over your posting history is pitiful.

How can you make a crack about someone possibly having a "retirement at Enron"
when it is YOU who supports the Enron approach to "public service"?

[WriteDown]

15. Sorry....

Did not know supporting monopolies is now a progressive trait. Puhlease. I support what I see as right. Not monopolistic extortion. Odd, I'm extremely pro-labor, but recently on DU, I've seen the most anti-labor comments and now support of monopolies. Never thought I'd see the day.

[dipsydoodle]

17. Supporting monopolies was your own expression.

Given that I'm in the UK comparisons with Enron are farcical. You may not be aware that up until at least the '60s or so all of our public utilities were nationalised anyway - monopolies to you.

Russia has not got the gas monopoly in Europe. The countries who use that gas do so for economic convenience using the pipelines from the Ukraine . There are alternate sources which would doubtless be more expensive - try getting gas from Norway to Italy for example.

Nothing changes the fact that the culprits here are the Ukrainians who want to have their cake and eat it too. They don't want to be part of "Mother Russia" but expect the benefits of being so by receiving gas whatever using a utility pricing stucture. Yes - the outcome is likely to be that at the next polls their government will become at least become pro-Russian again rather than pro- Western aka Bush & Co.

[WriteDown]

18. So Russia can choose to cut off people's only source of

heat during the coldest time of the year and you see this as right? Like I said, I'm sure you'd be fine with selling ice for 50$ a bag after a hurricane.

[Skink]

5. Bunch of Rough necks.

Ukraine denied taking the gas, but said it would siphon off a share if temperatures fell much below freezing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4574630.stm

Thanks for the idea.

[freedomnorth]

13. ANALYSIS-Europe gas stocks tested by Russia crisis

By Daniel Fineren

LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Europe may be forced to drain its winter gas stocks with spring still months away, find other ways of generating electricity and buy tankerloads of alternative fuel to keep warm unless Russian exports return to normal soon.

Economic recession and a mild start to winter have reduced energy demand and left European storage sites between 75-84 percent full at the end of December.

But temperatures have fallen below freezing in much of Europe since Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine on Jan. 1 and the outlook for the rest of this week is bleak.

"How long the stocks are going to last is very difficult to tell because there are many factors which we cannot control, weather to mention one of them," European Commission energy spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny said, adding that European gas experts will meet on Friday to assess the situation.

...

(more at link)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL6199993200901...

[dipsydoodle]

16. Gas to Europe now stopped completely 05.44 GMT WED.

Exports of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine appear to have completely stopped amid a dispute over gas supplies between the two countries.

Ukraine's Naftogaz said Russia's Gazprom halted supplies at 0744 local time (0544 GMT). Gazprom said Ukraine had closed the last remaining pipeline.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7814743.stm

[Citizen Number 9]

21. Putin is within his rights to shut gas off to the Ukraine

if they refuse to pay the price, but he would like to be influential and doing this is not the path to respect.

Moreover, I believe he has contracts with the European customers that he is grievously violating in the dead of Winter.


That's not good, either.

[chatnoir]

19. Excellent background and analysis

Prob much too long to copy here in it's entirety...

Ukraine-Russia: some background and context

by Jerome a Paris
Sat Jan 3rd, 2009 at 07:08:06 AM EST

As we enter yet another episode of worried or sanctimonious articles about the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it's worth remembering a few simple facts:

1) The conflict started in 1992, not in 2006
2) Russia cannot win a gas war against Ukraine and knows it
3) the real underlying stakes are not about Russia or Ukraine

Much more: http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/index.php?id=449

My Op-Ed in the Financial Times on the Russia-Ukraine spat

by Jerome a Paris
Tue Jan 06, 2009 at 01:23:00 PM PST

As the Russian-Ukrainian "crisis" reaches its paroxysm, with gas cut off to a number of European countries, the Financial Times has accepted to publish an article (The battle of the oligarchs behind the gas dispute) inspired by the longer post I wrote a few days ago on this dispute: Ukraine-Russia: some background and context (also posted on dKos and the Oil Drum). European Tribune co-editor afew helped rewrite the text and has rightly been credited with the resulting publication jointly with me.

The article, which provides a less breathlessly hysterical view on this crisis than most of the media stories today, is copied below the fold.

Read more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/6/161443/2709/519/...

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Thanks for that - fascinating to get an expert view

It'll be interesting to see how this develops.

[Jack_DeLeon]

22. Maybe Europe should switch to alternative energy...

instead of having to rely on foreign oil.

Nuclear power is one way to generate relatively large amounts of energy without generating too many greenhouse gasses.