Frantic efforts to restore gas supplies to millions of European comsumers failed today after Russia flatly refused to turn the pipeline back on. A European Union plan to send monitors to both countries, agreed in principle by Moscow and Kiev as a way of breaking the deadlock between them, faltered at the 11th hour when Russia demanded that its own inspectors should be sent into Ukraine alongside independent experts. The row has has left 12 countries without any deliveries in freezing temperatures and seen hundreds of schools and factories closed to conserve fuel. Hundreds of thousands of people across the Balkans, the worst-affected region, found themselves without heating and some hospitals were forced to close in Serbia as the thermometer dipped below minus 10 degrees Celsius. A senior US diplomat warned that Nato might have to intervene to help alliance members such as Bulgaria and Romania if the crisis drags on. "There is a commercial dispute at the heart of this, but this also has political overtones - we have seen Russia over time using such events to gain political leverage," said US Ambassador to Nato Kurt Volker.
Frantic efforts to restore gas supplies to millions of European comsumers failed today after Russia flatly refused to turn the pipeline back on.
A European Union plan to send monitors to both countries, agreed in principle by Moscow and Kiev as a way of breaking the deadlock between them, faltered at the 11th hour when Russia demanded that its own inspectors should be sent into Ukraine alongside independent experts.
The row has has left 12 countries without any deliveries in freezing temperatures and seen hundreds of schools and factories closed to conserve fuel. Hundreds of thousands of people across the Balkans, the worst-affected region, found themselves without heating and some hospitals were forced to close in Serbia as the thermometer dipped below minus 10 degrees Celsius.
A senior US diplomat warned that Nato might have to intervene to help alliance members such as Bulgaria and Romania if the crisis drags on. "There is a commercial dispute at the heart of this, but this also has political overtones - we have seen Russia over time using such events to gain political leverage," said US Ambassador to Nato Kurt Volker.
XInhua: Bulgaria can live on gas shortage regime for 100 days: president (2009-01-08)
Bulgaria faces no austerity measures in electricity consumption, and no termination of central heating, and its economy could function for up to 100 days on the country's reserves, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov announced Wednesday. ...
In the president's words, the only effect of the gas shortage that most Bulgarians would feel was slight reduction in the amount of heat they received from the central heating plants.
In the medium run, Parvanov mentioned some other measures to provide for Bulgaria's energy security including the expansion of the Chiren storage facility, and more importantly, building a 70-kilometers long gas transit pipeline between the Bulgarian city of Dimitrovgrad and the Greek town of Komotini, with which Bulgaria would join the Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline.
Also Xinhua: PM: Romania capable of coping with gas supply for winter (2009-01-08)
Romania has enough of its own natural gas stocks and production to manage despite the cut-off of its Russian gas supplies, Prime Minister Emil Boc said Wednesday. Boc made the statement after discussing the natural gas crisis with President Traian Basescu. He said that they agreed that Romania has to look for alternative energy resources so as to avoid similar problems in the future.
...
Boc said that with current stocks, Romania is capable of supplying enough gas for heating in the winter as long as there is no extreme weather. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
That's why I hope you take my remark at face value. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
Communism to them wasn't a remote or imposed dictatorship. Their troubles were blamed squarely on the local tough guy who was, by all accounts, quite a nasty piece of work.
So it wouldn't make sense to blame russia for this for kudos from the EU. I actually think the senior gangsters are happy to say they have plenty of gas, cos as far as they're concerned regarding their needs, it's true.
But equally, I do think that there will be shortages of power and gas occuring cos that's Bulgaria. It could be cos the country is short of gas, or local intermediaries are taking a leaf out of the Ukrainian book and making a quick buck for themselves, but I wouldn't discount the stories. There will be cold people there. keep to the Fen Causeway
A senior US diplomat warned that Nato might have to intervene to help alliance members such as Bulgaria and Romania if the crisis drags on.
