Just five hours after Russia's deliveries were stopped, residents of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian capital, Sarajevo, ran out of gas. For a while, though, it stayed warm in most homes, schools, hospitals and other public buildings. Around 90 percent of the buildings there can also be heated via district or central heating with other fuels like diesel oil. Yet with night-time temperatures currently hitting minus fifteen degrees, these supplies are limited and are sufficient for a maximum of five to seven days. `If this continues, we could have a humanitarian crisis on our hands,' warned Almir Becarevic, head of BH-Gas. In private homes with only a personal gas supply, the radiators have already been cold since Tuesday night. Those without wood fires have to heat with electricity. The supermarket chain Robot had already sold 3, 000 electric heaters by midday on 7 January - in Sarajevo they have already sold out. <...> The situation is better in Croatia, where gas supplies are at least sufficient for approximately ten days. In Slovenia, which also receives gas from storage sites in Austria, there is enough for as much as six weeks. Kosovo, the poorest of the former Yugoslavian succession states, is by contrast barely affected by the gas crisis. Its secret? Most Kosovars heat with wood and many are already equipped with gas canisters or small diesel generators because of repeated power cuts.
Just five hours after Russia's deliveries were stopped, residents of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian capital, Sarajevo, ran out of gas. For a while, though, it stayed warm in most homes, schools, hospitals and other public buildings. Around 90 percent of the buildings there can also be heated via district or central heating with other fuels like diesel oil.
Yet with night-time temperatures currently hitting minus fifteen degrees, these supplies are limited and are sufficient for a maximum of five to seven days. `If this continues, we could have a humanitarian crisis on our hands,' warned Almir Becarevic, head of BH-Gas. In private homes with only a personal gas supply, the radiators have already been cold since Tuesday night. Those without wood fires have to heat with electricity. The supermarket chain Robot had already sold 3, 000 electric heaters by midday on 7 January - in Sarajevo they have already sold out.
<...> The situation is better in Croatia, where gas supplies are at least sufficient for approximately ten days. In Slovenia, which also receives gas from storage sites in Austria, there is enough for as much as six weeks. Kosovo, the poorest of the former Yugoslavian succession states, is by contrast barely affected by the gas crisis. Its secret? Most Kosovars heat with wood and many are already equipped with gas canisters or small diesel generators because of repeated power cuts.
Bosnia seeking natural gas from Germany's E.ON | Reuters
SARAJEVO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Bosnia is negotiating a deal with German utility E.ON (EONGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) on natural gas supply to ease shortages that have left 100,000 households cold and forced plants to halt work, its main gas operator said on Friday. Bosnian imports of natural gas were cut off earlier this week when shipments of Russian gas via a pipeline that runs through Ukraine and Hungary were cut off. "We are currently negotiating an urgent delivery of 1 to 1.5 million cubic metres of gas with E.ON and we are expecting it to be operational on Saturday," General Manager of BH Gas Almir Becarevic told Reuters.
SARAJEVO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Bosnia is negotiating a deal with German utility E.ON (EONGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) on natural gas supply to ease shortages that have left 100,000 households cold and forced plants to halt work, its main gas operator said on Friday.
Bosnian imports of natural gas were cut off earlier this week when shipments of Russian gas via a pipeline that runs through Ukraine and Hungary were cut off.
"We are currently negotiating an urgent delivery of 1 to 1.5 million cubic metres of gas with E.ON and we are expecting it to be operational on Saturday," General Manager of BH Gas Almir Becarevic told Reuters.
FACTBOX-18 countries affected by Russia-Ukraine gas row | Markets | Reuters
SERBIA - About 87 percent of annual gas demand is met by Russia** Supply from Russia was cut off on Jan. 6 and the country ran out of gas. Many thousands of people were without heating and some health clinics and hospitals have closed. Natural gas accounts for 15 percent of its annual fuel use according to the Serbian energy ministry. But tens of thousands of Serbian homes regained gas heating on Thursday after Germany and Hungary started supplying five million cubic metres of natural gas a day. Officials said 170,000 Serbian households had no gas heating as of Thursday, but many of those were expected to be back to normal on Friday.
portfolio.hu - Online Financial Journal
Another 2 mcm of gas to Serbia Hungarian oil and gas group MOL has announced that it will be able to continue providing gas to Serbia from increased local production. Hungary's natural gas consumption totalled 61.5 million cubic metres on Thursday, which allowed Hungary to deliver 2 mcm of gas to Serbia. Transmission is to be the same volume today. Hungary has not needed to tap its strategic natural gas reserves of 500 mcm yet, Energy Minister Csaba Molnár has announced.
Heating Back To Normal In Serbia :: BalkanInsight.com
After several days of outages due to the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, heating in Serbian households was back to normal on Friday thanks to gas imports from Hungary and Germany. Dusan Bajatovic, general manager of Srbijagas, told Balkan Insight that between four and five tons of natural gas should arrive daily from Hungary and Germany until the dispute between Russia and Ukraine is resolved."Although our daily requirements are around 10 million tons, this amount will be quite sufficient for us to provide a minimum but still acceptable temperature in households," said Bajatovic. "From the moment the problem is resolved and gas is let through the pipes, our system needs 72 hours to get fully back to normal," he added.Serbia's gas supply was cut off on Tuesday causing problems around the country but more seriously in the province of Vojvodina. Three thermal power plants in Novi Sad, the province's largest city, shut down, leaving some 80,000 people without heat in subzero temperatures. In the town of Pancevo near Belgrade, trucks carrying firewood were lining up in the city streets.
Dusan Bajatovic, general manager of Srbijagas, told Balkan Insight that between four and five tons of natural gas should arrive daily from Hungary and Germany until the dispute between Russia and Ukraine is resolved."Although our daily requirements are around 10 million tons, this amount will be quite sufficient for us to provide a minimum but still acceptable temperature in households," said Bajatovic. "From the moment the problem is resolved and gas is let through the pipes, our system needs 72 hours to get fully back to normal," he added.Serbia's gas supply was cut off on Tuesday causing problems around the country but more seriously in the province of Vojvodina. Three thermal power plants in Novi Sad, the province's largest city, shut down, leaving some 80,000 people without heat in subzero temperatures. In the town of Pancevo near Belgrade, trucks carrying firewood were lining up in the city streets.
Bulgarian gas monopoly Bulgargaz cut gas supplies completely to 72 big industrial consumers and sharply lowered deliveries to another 153 big companies on Thursday. Dozens of kindergartens and 68 schools were closed and trams and buses in the capital Sofia switched off heat to save energy. By Friday, however, the domestic situation had improved although at least 30,000 households in the northern town of Pleven remained without central heating. At least 65,000 Bulgarian households had been without gas heating on Thursday.
News
SOFIA, Bulgaria/SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)/BELGRADE, Serbia -- A row between Russia and Ukraine over unpaid gas bills continued to harm everyday life and industries across the Balkans on Friday (January 9th). All Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine ceased on Tuesday after Moscow accused Kiev of siphoning Europe-bound gas from pipelines that cross Ukraine.In Bulgaria, a total of 64 elementary and high schools remained without heat. Thousands of households and 72 industrial enterprises were also affected. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said to Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov on Saturday that his country was ready to supply Bulgaria with 1.5 to 2m cubic m of natural gas daily from its own reserves.BiH's presidency said it will declare a state of emergency on January 12th if gas delivery does not resume. About 72,500 households have lost heat, and some factories had to halt production. On Friday, the country started to import gas from Serbia, BH-Gas said. Hungary said Saturday it will also supply BiH and Croatia with natural gas.Serbia said Friday its gas supply was returning to normal after Germany and Hungary started delivering 5m cubic m of natural gas daily. Local media reported heat had resumed in all towns. (Reuters, Sofia news agency, BTA, BNR, BTV, AP - 10/01/09, AFP, RFE, RTS, B92, Beta, Tanjug - 09/01/09)
SOFIA, Bulgaria/SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)/BELGRADE, Serbia -- A row between Russia and Ukraine over unpaid gas bills continued to harm everyday life and industries across the Balkans on Friday (January 9th). All Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine ceased on Tuesday after Moscow accused Kiev of siphoning Europe-bound gas from pipelines that cross Ukraine.
In Bulgaria, a total of 64 elementary and high schools remained without heat. Thousands of households and 72 industrial enterprises were also affected. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said to Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov on Saturday that his country was ready to supply Bulgaria with 1.5 to 2m cubic m of natural gas daily from its own reserves.
BiH's presidency said it will declare a state of emergency on January 12th if gas delivery does not resume. About 72,500 households have lost heat, and some factories had to halt production. On Friday, the country started to import gas from Serbia, BH-Gas said. Hungary said Saturday it will also supply BiH and Croatia with natural gas.
Serbia said Friday its gas supply was returning to normal after Germany and Hungary started delivering 5m cubic m of natural gas daily. Local media reported heat had resumed in all towns. (Reuters, Sofia news agency, BTA, BNR, BTV, AP - 10/01/09, AFP, RFE, RTS, B92, Beta, Tanjug - 09/01/09)
SLOVAKIA - About 100 percent of annual demand is met by Russia* Slovakia declared a state of emergency after Russian supplies stopped on Jan. 7. It may restart a nuclear power plant it shut down to comply with the EU accession agreement if Russian gas supplies remain halted for a longer time. The Slovak gas transit and distribution company SPP said it had reduced supplies to around 1,000 Slovak companies, forcing major companies to reduce production. SPP is delivering gas from its storage facilities to households, hospitals and schools. The Czech Republic said on Friday it would provide Slovakia with about 4 million cubic metres of gas per day, possibly starting later on Friday.
HUNGARY -- About 60 percent of annual gas demand is met by Russia* E.ON Ruhrgas is to supply Hungary with 2.5 mcm of natural gas per day via a pipeline from Austria. Hungary eased restrictions on some large industrial gas consumers from Thursday morning. It plans to use some of its strategic gas reserves on Thursday to ensure supplies to household and most industrial users. Hungary is to provide Serbia with 2 million cubic metres of gas on Friday after starting to do so on Thursday because of milder weather and lower household consumption. Hungary will supply Bosnia and Croatia with natural gas on Saturday.
TURKEY -- Russia meets about 67 percent of annual gas demand* Production at three Turkish power stations stopped on Thursday. Russian gas supplies from a western pipeline passing through Ukraine were cut on Tuesday. The country has raised supplies of Russian gas delivered via a pipeline under the Black Sea. Gazprom's Blue Stream pipeline to Turkey is working at full capacity of 45 million cubic metres (mcm). Iran raised the amount of its daily supply volumes to Turkey to 18 million cubic metres from 12 million, following the partial cut off of Russian gas, an Iranian diplomatic source said on Friday.
Summary: tens of thousands of homes in Serbia, Bosnia, and Bulgaria were deprived of heating either totally or partly when Russia decided the cut-off on Wednesday 7. The situation was already improving on Thursday and Friday thanks to supplies from other countries with storage facilities. It is most unlikely that, by Saturday, there remained "tens of thousands of freezing homes in Europe".
Lazy journalist catch-phrase? The trouble is that it's the kind that writes history, and it will be trundled out again in the future to summarize "what Russia did".
Interruption of supply can take place not just for political reasons but because of a natural disaster or war/terrorism (yes, those are also "political reasons" but of a different kind). Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
It's a serious question. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
If excluding the country helps make the case "Europe is Doomed" then you take it out...
Did I put too much information up, and people aren't reading all of it? My point is not to say: here are the freezing homes, but: the freezing homes were dealt with on Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
At some point, journalists the world over will realize that there is only one place to go to stay lazy, but get information...ET. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
