Brussels, 04/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission told EUROPE on Monday 4 January that there was no longer any threat to oil supplies from Russia, via Ukraine, to the European Union. “The problem has been resolved, both Russia and Ukraine say, and we see no reason not to believe them,” said Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, spokesman for Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. This statement comes after the early warning agreement between the EU and Russia was strengthened.
Russia and Belarus have not managed to reach agreement of prices for the supply of Russian oil in 2010. On Sunday 3 December 2009, two brokers for major Russian oil companies announced that supplies of Russian oil to Belarusian refineries had been suspended. Belarus wants Russia to supply tax-free oil for both domestic use and export. Moscow has refused and demanded full payment of customs duties. As a consequence, the Belarusian authorities are threatening to increase ten-fold the duty on Russian oil that passes through Belarus to Poland and Germany. Three quarters of Polish oil transits through Belarus, as does 15% of Germany's supply of crude oil. The Commission feels it is premature to comment on this dispute. “It is largely a bilateral problem,” said a Commission spokesman, adding however that the Commission was following developments closely.
A Commission press release on 29 December gave assurances that there was no longer any risk of cuts in oil supply from Russia to the EU via Ukraine. Piebalgs was pleased that the early warning system, used for the first time by Russia on 28 December, had worked well.
In Moscow on 16 November 2009, Piebalgs and the Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko signed a memorandum of understanding on the early warning mechanism, designed to warn of cuts in energy supply. A quarter of Europe's gas comes from Russia and 80% of this gas passes through Ukraine.
A meeting of the Oil Supply Group took place in Brussels in mid-December. This meeting of EU member states' experts assessed the EU's ability to cope with an oil crisis. Europe currently has sufficient oil stocks to last 122 days, far in excess of the compulsory 90 days. The Commission, then, considers that, even if there were to be a crisis, the situation gives no cause for alarm. (V.L.B./transl.rt)