Russian gas supplies to EU reduced amid cold

PanARMENIAN.Net - Italy, Poland and Slovakia's natural gas supplies from Russia were between 8% and 10% lower than normal February 1, but those countries were able to cover the missing supply by using stored gas or getting additional supplies from other sources, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said.

"All were able to cover for the missing amount," Marlene Holzner, spokeswoman for Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch reported. "As there is enough gas on the market, we are confident that the market will allocate."

Russian gas producer OAO Gazprom said earlier that it has increased gas deliveries to Europe amid colder weather and is fulfilling all contractual obligations, responding to media reports that it had been forced to lower supplies to some European countries due to high seasonal demand at home.

The EU faced a deep crisis in 2009, when supplies of Russian gas plunged because of a price dispute between Russia and Ukraine. That prompted the bloc to invest in infrastructure to improve its response capacity. Countries improved storage capacity and increased interconnections to enable the movement of gas in many different directions.