Ukraine is supplying gas to Romania and Hungary from its own reserves to compensate for the decline in supply from the Russian gas giant Gazprom, Ukrainian company Naftogaz announced on Saturday.
Naftogaz has increased gas deliveries to Romania to 100,000 cubic meters per day and to Hungary to 1.8 million, sourced from Ukrainian reserves, the company stated in a release simultaneously published in Kyiv and Brussels. This announcement came after reports from Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary about reduced deliveries of Russian gas coming through Ukraine.
Senior Ukrainian official Bohdan Sokolovski warned on Saturday that European consumers could face serious gas shortages in ten to fifteen days if Moscow and Kyiv do not resolve their disputes over the supply of this energy resource.
Gazprom’s Vice President Alexander Medvedev on Saturday accused Ukraine of stealing 35 million cubic meters of Russian gas per day, emphasizing that all illegally taken gas must be paid for. He added that Ukraine has owed Gazprom $600 million for gas since last year. Gazprom halted gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1 due to Ukraine’s debt and the failure of negotiations over gas prices for 2009. (Hina)
