Balkans left in the cold

Russia’s deepening gas dispute with Ukraine cuts supplies to the region

A young Bulgarian carries wood in front of his house in the town of Zlatica east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia, yesterday. Bulgaria’s Energy Ministry says Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have been suspended.

ZAGREB (AFP) – A Russia-Ukraine gas dispute worsened for the Balkans yesterday, with shipments ceasing to two ex-Yugoslav states and slashed to another as temperatures plunged far below freezing.

As Russia accused Ukraine of shutting pipelines carrying its gas to Southeastern Europe and beyond, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) said deliveries were halted in line with regional cuts in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.

Officials in Croatia, which receives its Russian natural gas through pipelines from Austria, said deliveries had ceased completely.

“Russian gas supplies to Croatia stopped flowing at 5 a.m. (0400 GMT),” Neda Erdeljac, the spokeswoman for Croatia’s national gas operator PLINACRO, told AFP.

As temperatures hovered around minus 20 degrees Celsius, Croatian oil and gas group INA called upon all consumers to use gas sparingly because of the cold snap.

The Economy Ministry said reductions were to start for Croatia’s big industrial consumers but households as well as schools, hospitals and other public institutions would not be affected immediately.

“Circumstances have occurred due to which temporary measures to reduce gas supplies to certain categories of consumers have been introduced,” a ministry statement said.

Croatia itself produces about 60 percent of the natural gas it needs, while the remaining 40 percent is imported from Russia.

Further southeast, in FYROM, the halt to Russian gas supplies was confirmed by Economy Minister Fatmir Besimi.

“According to our information from the field, I can say that the delivery of gas to Macedonia has stopped,” Besimi told AFP.

However FYROM’s government was not expecting “any serious consequences” in the near future as the country “generally does not use much gas,” the minister added.

Separately Bosnia, which gets all of its gas from Russia, delivered via trans-Ukraine and -Hungary pipelines, announced its supplies were reduced by one half.

“Hungarian gas transporter FGSZ on Tuesday informed BH-Gas company that Ukraine and Russia were decreasing natural gas deliveries toward Bosnia-Herzegovina by 50 percent,” the country’s national gas company said.

“This new decrease is additionally complicating the situation and is threatening to further threaten consumers,” it warned in a statement.

Officials in Serbia, which like Bosnia also receives its Russian gas through Hungary, were unreachable yesterday, the eve of the Christmas holiday for some Eastern Orthodox Churches.

On Monday, the national gas company Srbijagas said there were sufficient supplies in Serbia, but warned of a possible reduction and for companies to prepare to use alternative sources of energy.

Russia halted its gas supplies to Ukraine last week after the two ex-Soviet states failed to agree on payment terms. The reduction in gas, which is used for heating, comes as bitter cold grips the Balkan region.