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Roundup: Russia Sticks to Price Demand As Its Gas Delivery to Europe Returns to Normal

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 January 2006, 09:00 CST

Roundup: Russia sticks to price demand as its gas delivery to Europe returns to normal

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia's gas giant Gazprom on Tuesday refused to make concessions in talks with Ukraine on the natural gas price as Russian gas supplies to Europe returned to normal.

Russian energy officials met their counterparts from Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy late Tuesday.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on the Echo of Moscow radio that the company would stick to its demand that the gas price for Ukraine be more than quadrupled.

Gazprom is willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine on gas deliveries but will not make concessions, said Kupriyanov.

Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on Sunday after Kiev rejected Moscow's demand for a sharp rise in gas prices starting from 2006.

Russia accused Ukraine of siphoning gas from supplies to Western Europe in the pipelines that run through its territory. But Kiev has denied the charge.

About 80 percent of the gas the European Union buys from Gazprom is sent through pipelines crossing Ukraine. Many European countries had reported a sharp drop in their gas supplies after the row started.

The supplies returned to normal in Austria, Germany, France and Slovenia on Tuesday.

Austria, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency, welcomed the restoration of normal gas supplies.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said in a statement that Russia took a right step to help relieve the regional energy shortfalls. Austria hopes that Russia and Ukraine will resume their negotiations to seek a solution to the price dispute, she said.

Meanwhile, E.on Ruhrgas and Wingas, Germany's two major gas importing companies, said on Tuesday that the amount of gas Germany gets from Russia recovered to a normal level.

"The pressure in the pipelines has been normal again since this morning," said Andreas Reichel, a spokesman for E.on-Ruhras in Essen.

On Monday, one of the two east-west pipelines crossing Ukraine had supplied 30 percent less gas than usual. The German news agency DPA quoted Reichel as saying that the company had obtained larger supplies of gas from other European sources to plug the shortfall.

Russia's gas supplies to Italy also returned to normal Tuesday, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola welcomed the news from fuels group Eni and called for a "bipartisan" political pact to ensure fuel security in the future -- including a return to nuclear power.

In France, Gaz de France announced that its supplies from Russia had resumed after falling by up to 30 percent on Monday.

"During the recent days, gas supplies in France have never been disrupted," the group said in a statement.

The Slovenian gas company Geoplin also said Russia's supplies had been fully restored by Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the Hungarian media reported that pressure in gas pipelines between Russia and Hungary through Ukraine returned to normal Monday night.

On Tuesday, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko accused Russia of using the gas price issue to mount political pressure on their nations.

The move was aimed at disrupting Ukraine's and Moldova's economic development and causing social turmoil, the two leaders said in a joint statement.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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