PRAGUE: The cat and mouse game between Europe and Russia on gas intensified yesterday with Slovakia saying its supply from Russia was down by a half and its prime minister calling the move part of a political fight.
Since September, Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom has sent less-than-requested deliveries to Poland, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary — after the European Union began sending gas to Ukraine — in a clear warning from Moscow ahead of the winter heating season which officially starts today, when the industry switches to higher pricing.
The 50 percent cut reported by Slovakia, a major transit point for Russian gas exports to Europe, was by far the deepest yet, and Prime Minister Robert Fico said he would call a crisis meeting of his government if the problems persisted.
Fico, who normally has warm relations with Russia and has criticised EU sanctions against it, said he saw political factors behind the cuts.
“The Russian side talks about technical problems, about the necessity of filling up storage for the winter season,” Fico said. “I have used this expression and I will use it again: gas has become a tool in a political fight.”
There was no immediate comment from Russian gas exporter Gazprom. Slovakia’s western neighbour the Czech Republic became the latest former Soviet-bloc nation to experience reductions. RWE Czech Republic, its main gas importer, said it saw unspecified reductions on several days over the past week, although the flow seemed normal yesterday.
It was unlikely there will be any impact for now on consumers of gas in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, or the countries further West that receive it via there, because gas storage reservoirs throughout Europe are close to full. As well as shipping Russian gas west, Slovakia also sends it east into Ukraine. That has irked Russia, which switched off gas deliveries to Ukraine to persuade Kiev to pay its arrears.
“Nobody should be surprised by what Russia does. They want to keep pressure on Ukraine... at the start of the heating season,” said Michael LaBelle, a gas expert at the Central European University in Budapest.
Central European spot gas markets rose to over 25 euros ($31.52) per megawatt-hours (MWh), their highest levels since the Ukraine crisis broke out in February/March. Russia is Europe’s biggest supplier of natural gas, meeting almost a third of annual demand and in return, Gazprom receives around $80bn in annual revenues from its European customers, making up the majority of its income.
Moscow halted gas flows to Ukraine three times in the past decade, in 2006, 2009 and since June this year, although this year gas for the EU via Ukraine has so far continued to flow. Opening up gas flows eastward was part of the EU’s response to Gazprom’s decision to cut supplies to Kiev in June. Slovakia, Poland and Hungary can also send gas to Ukraine but so far deliveries have not been without incident. Reuters
