07/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Gazprom cannot always increase gas supplies to EU. The deputy head of Russian giant Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, said on Tuesday 7 February that the company is not always able to increase gas supplies to EU member states, where demand is currently high due to the cold spell. At a press conference during a visit to the Lithuanian president, Andrus Kubilius, in Vilnius, Medvedev said that in the first week of February, Gazprom had received requests for a 50% increase in the usual supplies and had not been able to meet all of them, pointing out that European countries had plenty of supplies - up to 30 days' worth - to avoid any disruption in supplies. Gazprom also has to provide gas to Russia, of course, which is itself facing a particularly cold wave of weather, and it announced on Saturday that it was not in a position to provide the EU with additional gas. Gazprom said that it had been forced to reduce supplies by 10% over a few days, but supplies were now back to normal. (EH/transl.fl)