Turkey rejects Greek demand of gas as Russia-Ukraine price row grows

An Energy Ministry source told Reuters that Turkey did not expect a problem with gas supplies for one week, but that subsequently it may seek additional gas from Iran.

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Six countries, including Turkey, had reported a complete shutoff of Russian gas shipped to Europe as of Tuesday morning. Russia has increased its gas supplies to Turkey via Blue Stream, while Ankara said Iran could increase flows if needed.

Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said Russia increased gas delivered to Turkey via the Blue-Stream pipeline which passes under the Black Sea to 48 million cubic meters (mcm) per day from a previous 40 mcm, and Turkey would use liquid natural gas sources as well as natural gas stores.

Guler attempted to calm concerns in Turkey saying that all power stations were working to full capacity and that gas supplies from alternative sources would be increased.�

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"Our people will not go cold," Guler said Wednesday afternoon. Guler said that the government was working hard to solve the problems but that Turkey did not want to get directly involved in the commercial dispute between Russia and Ukraine which has led to the gas cuts.

Guler said that in recent days Turkey had been receiving around 17 million cubic meters via the West pipeline via Bulgaria, down from 32 million cubic meters that it normally receives. 5

Guler said Turkey is trying to compensate the cut, as Iranian officials said it may be able to its natural gas supplies to Turkey if a shortfall is created by the cut off of Russian gas supplies, Reuters reported. Iran supplies approximately a third of Turkey's gas.

TALKS ON THURSDAY

Russia and Ukraine traded blame as the efforts to resolve the dispute intensified. Earlier on Tuesday Ukraine's state gas firm Naftogaz accused Gazprom of sharply reducing the volumes of gas it was pumping through Ukraine's pipeline network to Europe.

In Moscow, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom's number-two executive said Ukraine had shut down three of four strategic pipelines that carry Russian gas to customers in Europe, via Ukrainian territory, Russian news agencies reported.

Despite the mutual accusations the head of Naftogaz said talks on resolving the gas dispute with Russia will resume Thursday. Oleh Dubina announced Tuesday that he will travel to Moscow.

Alexander Medvedev of Gazprom said such distruptions should have never happened. "As a result (of the pipeline closures), from this morning deliveries of Russian gas to our partners in the European Union were reduced by a factor of seven," he added, cited by Russia's RIA Novosti and ITAR-TASS news agencies.

SITUATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES

The European Commission and the European Union presidency responded to the Russian move with a statement demanding that “gas supplies be restored immediately to the E.U. and that the two parties resume negotiations at once with a view to a definitive settlement of their bilateral commercial dispute.” They said the E.U. would seek to “intensify the dialogue with both parties so that they can reach an agreement swiftly".

E.ON Ruhrgas, the German gas company, said its gas supplies via Ukraine at its Waidhaus station had been “massively reduced,” and predicted that deliveries would completely stop in the next few days. E.ON said it would soon be unable to meet demand if supplies were not restored and temperatures remained low.

The Bulgarian Energy Ministry said that its deliveries were suspended early Tuesday, including gas intended for transit to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. Bulgaria gets the vast majority of its gas from Russia, and has only a few days of supply in reserve.

In Prague, the Czech pipeline operator RWE Transgas said the flow of gas “delivered by the transit pipe line system through the Ukraine and Slovakia to the Czech republic and other EU countries has dropped significantly.” It said it would increase purchases of Norwegian gas delivered via another pipeline.

The Romanian Economy Ministry also released a statement saying that a pipeline delivering Gazprom gas had been shut down. A second pipeline in the north of the country continues to operate, however.

In Vienna, the Austrian energy company OMV said its supply of Russian gas via Gazprom was down 90 percent Tuesday. Werner Auli, a member of the OMV board said in a statement: “The supply of natural gas to our customers is still secured for the time being.”