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Russia stops all gas supply to Europe via Ukraine
tvalentine
Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 4,216
tbh i blame both the ukraine and russia. It shouldnt have come down to this. The Ukraine shouldnt have siphoned gas and russia should have offered a more reasonable price especially since they ship most of the gas through the ukraine.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_ukraine_russia_gas
MOSCOW – Russia cut off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine on Wednesday, playing hardball in a weeklong standoff that has left more than a dozen countries struggling to cope with dwindling energy supplies in the depths of winter.
The U.S. put the blame squarely on Russia, accusing Moscow of using its energy resources to threaten its neighbors.
But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin endorsed the move, even as factories shut down in eastern Europe, schools closed and tens of thousands of people scrambled to find other ways of keeping warm.
Insisting that Ukraine was responsible for the crisis, Putin appeared determined to force Kiev to back down and accept increased prices for natural gas. The two sides were to meet Thursday in the first face-to-face talks since negotiations broke down on New Year's Eve.
The effects of the gas cutoff reverberated across the continent, with Bulgaria, the EU's poorest member, among the worst hit. Croatia declared a state of emergency and Hungary instituted gas rationing for industries. The situation in Bosnia was so dire that woodcutters revved up their chain saws to cut wood for fireplaces.
"It is a shame that in the last two decades our rulers did not look for alternative sources of energy supplies. It's again up to Moscow," retired teacher Anelia Petrova said in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital.
Hundreds stormed shops in Sofia looking for electric heaters. Tsvyatko Peev got the last one in a downtown shop.
"I'm glad I got one, although I fear that the additional electricity costs will ruin the family budget," Peev said.
In Hungary, voluntary rationing for the country's largest consumers went into immediate effect.
Japanese carmaker Suzuki closed its plant in the northern city of Esztergom, while a brick factory belonging to Austria's Wienerberger, the world's largest brick manufacturer, in the eastern city of Bekescsaba and a tire factory in Racalmas, central Hungary, owned by South Korea's Hankook also shut down due to gas shortages.
The Hungarian subsidiary of General Electric and famed salami maker Pick were among the companies cutting output.
The EU accused both Russia and Ukraine of using consumers as pawns in their dispute.
"It is unacceptable that the EU gas supply security is taken hostage to negotiations between Russia and Ukraine," EU spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said.
In Washington, U.S. officials criticized Russia for the energy crisis.
"Cutting off these supplies during winter to a vulnerable population is just something that is unacceptable to us," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley warned Moscow if it continues to threaten its neighbors and manipulate their access to energy it will "compromise any aspirations for greater global influence."
Russia supplies one-quarter of Europe's natural gas, and about 80 percent of that is shipped through pipelines crossing Ukraine. Other smaller pipelines run through Belarus and Turkey.
Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey all reported a halt in Russian gas shipments by Wednesday. Others — including Austria, France, Germany, Hungary and Poland — reported substantial drops in supplies.
Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom stopped all gas shipments to Ukraine on Jan. 1 after the two countries failed to agree on prices and transit fees for 2009, but kept supplies flowing to Europe over Ukraine's pipelines.
Russia reduced supplies Tuesday, accusing Ukraine of siphoning off gas meant for Europe. But Putin ordered Gazprom to stop all shipments Wednesday.
"This should be done publicly and in the presence of international observers," he told Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pressed Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko for a quick resolution to the standoff.
"If this matter is not solved, it will raise very serious doubts about the reliability of Russia as a supplier of gas to Europe and Ukraine as a transit country," Barroso said.
He said both countries agreed Wednesday to accept international monitors that could verify the flow of gas once it resumes.
Andrew Neff, an energy analyst with Global Insight, said Gazprom's cutoff aimed to pressure Ukraine to settle quickly.
"While the Russian gas giant risks further sullying its already-poor reputation in Europe with its tactics, Gazprom is effectively seeking to force this dispute to an end sooner rather than later," he wrote in an analysis.
Talks had been expected Thursday in Moscow, but Ukraine said it was sending its delegation instead to Brussels, where Gazprom's Miller is to speak before the European Parliament.
In 2008, Russia charged Ukraine about half what it charged its European customers for gas — a Soviet-era practice it has long sought to change. Ukraine, however, says if it pays more for natural gas, Russia should pay more for shipping that gas across Ukraine.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday that Moscow would insist that Kiev pay European prices "without discount." Medvedev also demanded full payment of Ukraine's $600 million debt to Gazprom, which Ukraine has said it will not pay until the issue is settled in arbitration courts.
Ukraine, which has a vast underground storage system full of natural gas, says it can weather the dispute until early April.
Gazprom, however, is losing substantial income during a peak season for gas consumption. It also will soon see an excess of gas in its system, which will create a costly storage problem.
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Comments
Does this mean Europe will be willing to meet US Natural Gas Sellers shipment demands and pricing policy? If so I think the US can get out of a recession thanks to our old friends in Russia.
is it just me!but does Russia seem like their crying out for attention or some crazy ADD problem or their maybe going threw major case of national Identity crisis.
nuts
Trade in material assumptions for spiritual facts and make permanent progress.
No, that has nothing to do with this.
It just means we'll rely and invest more in alternative energy. There's enough gas pipelines in scandinavia and other places to fill in this lack of gas from Russia until then.
This doesn't affect the EU, just former russian nations and eastern Europe.
Russia likes to play games and piss of random people with no apparent benefit but just anger towards them.
Few people still understand what Russia is doing..basically they're just being very annoying.
No, that has nothing to do with this.
It just means we'll rely and invest more in alternative energy. There's enough gas pipelines in scandinavia and other places to fill in this lack of gas from Russia until then.
This doesn't affect the EU, just former russian nations and eastern Europe.
Russia likes to play games and piss of random people with no apparent benefit but just anger towards them.
Few people still understand what Russia is doing..basically they're just being very annoying.
Sorta like this. *Pokes InTheSea*
That said this really shouldent cause anything more than a gas price spike.
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude; greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
Samuel Adams
no one ever understands what russia does and for what reason except russia
they'll fix it up eventually but i think russia just wants to piss people off and get their way 
course ukraine shouldn't have been so difficult either.
take what you can but not what isn't yours. "fight to the end and never give your enemy the satisfaction of victory"
Monopolies should be illegal, if they are not already. I know they are in the banking and many other business areas. Why are they allowed in gas and oil?
Creator of ELTank and Nostalgia
Agreed. Russia is a stubborn one. Like a child that wants his roller skates back, he just simply refuses to eat. if Stalin was still here, I dont think we would have this problem.
______________________________
What if Paul Revere was like the boy who cried wolf....?
Originally posted by Hazmal
What does he say when people ask what he did? "My mommy was irking me yo - I wanted to keep pwning nubs on my xbox, so I roughed her up with a hardshell. That is just how I roll."
In a LOT of countrys Monopolies are the status Quo...
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude; greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
Samuel Adams
like college football
They don't have a monopoly. All those nations have the oppurtunity to buy good old american natural gas but choose not to because of prices to ship gas that large a distance.
They don't have a monopoly. All those nations have the oppurtunity to buy good old american natural gas but choose not to because of prices to ship gas that large a distance.
Thus I will ask all Americans to help out our European bretheren.
On the count of three, please turn and fart into the east......
They don't have a monopoly. All those nations have the oppurtunity to buy good old american natural gas but choose not to because of prices to ship gas that large a distance.
Thus I will ask all Americans to help out our European bretheren.
On the count of three, please turn and fart into the east......
Some of our illustrious euro-posters should be able to supply enough gas to make it up.
------------------
Originally posted by javac
well i'm 35 and have a PhD in science, and then 10 years experience in bioinformatics... you?
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/218865/page/8
They don't have a monopoly. All those nations have the oppurtunity to buy good old american natural gas but choose not to because of prices to ship gas that large a distance.
Thus I will ask all Americans to help out our European bretheren.
On the count of three, please turn and fart into the east......
Gawdammit! I was enjoying that coffee!!
They don't have a monopoly. All those nations have the oppurtunity to buy good old american natural gas but choose not to because of prices to ship gas that large a distance.
Thus I will ask all Americans to help out our European bretheren.
On the count of three, please turn and fart into the east......
Some of our illustrious euro-posters should be able to supply enough gas to make it up.
Naw, they deplete their reserves anytime they have something to say about guns,America,Americans, American Schools, American food,Fat this, Far that. .See the picture?
They just don't have the reserves. Then again you read the article it's costly to keep gas stored, and the euro's just can't store it.
You DO all realise that the reason Russia stopped the supply wasn't due to Ukraine "not paying", right? It's due to the fact that most of the Russian upper echelons of power and industry are still pretty pissed at the Ukrainians for "getting the ball rolling" on the dissolution of the Soviet Union? The Ukrainians were one of the absolute firsts to demand self determination legimately, with Gorbachev allowing it.
Protip; Analyse the socio-political factors before trying to blame it on someone "not paying". Hell, it even says so IN the article.