With only a few hours left before the deadline for a Ukraine/Russian deal on gas payments,
the Ukraine has threatened to confiscate gas allocated to Europe.

The implications for both Russia and Europe, including Ireland, are serious: a quarter of gas used in Europe comes from Russia.
1.5 billion payment of debt has been passed from the Ukraine to the mediator company brokering between the two countries, but no money has yet reached Moscow. Negotiations for a new contract for future supplies that transit through the Ukraine are said to be at deadlock and the two companies have asked for political intervention.

Whether or not this is resolved, the dependency of much of Europe on Russian supplies, including the UK and Ireland is a source of insecurity. When powerful economies are not self-sufficient in energy, the potential for conflict and resource war remains.

(source: Russia Today)
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/23122008/323/russia-warns-gas-supply-disruptions-europe.html

cactus flower wrote:

With only a few hours left before the deadline for a Ukraine/Russian deal on gas payments,
the Ukraine has threatened to confiscate gas allocated to Europe.

The implications for both Russia and Europe, including Ireland, are serious: a quarter of gas used in Europe comes from Russia.
1.5 billion payment of debt has been passed from the Ukraine to the mediator company brokering between the two countries, but no money has yet reached Moscow. Negotiations for a new contract for future supplies that transit through the Ukraine are said to be at deadlock and the two companies have asked for political intervention.

Whether or not this is resolved, the dependency of much of Europe on Russian supplies, including the UK and Ireland is a source of insecurity. When powerful economies are not self-sufficient in energy, the potential for conflict and resource war remains.

Ukraine has not threatened gas supplies to Europe. Russia has.

This has in fact been brewing for nearly 8 months. Russia is threatening to cut off Europe's supply to get Europe to bully Ukraine to pay Moscow even though there is supposed to be an arbitrator ruling on whether Russia is overcharging Ukraine.

The war in South Ossetia has been part of this whole battle. A new pipeline being laid would have prevented Russia from threatening Europe's gas supply through Ukraine. Russia since early this year promoted instability in South Ossetia, with Russian associates in South Ossetia in June and July launching a bombardment of Georgia. Georgia walked into the trap, attacked South Ossetia and got whacked by Russia who used the excuse to invade Georgia and hundreds of miles from South Ossetia just happened to bomb the new pipeline being built. While the events in South Ossetia were completely misunderstood by most people, Europe's governments knew exactly what Russia was up to and what the real reason behind the invasion was, and began stockpiling gas from that point on. So a cut off won't cause immediate difficulty. (Had Russia not set up the South Ossetia farce the west might not have copped on what was happening and so wouldn't have stockpiled the gas.)

Putin has a longterm game plan of which the South Ossetia war and the gas cut off are only pawns. Unfortunately the dumb ass Bush so bungled Russia-US relations and so misread Putin he allowed Putin to build himself up into a serious threat to European security. It has been long expected that as soon as the west experienced a serious economic downturn Putin would play the gas card again, and making sure the other pipeline in Georgia was not functioning was crucial to that game, hence the whole South Ossetia charade which was engineered by the Russian-backed illegal government in the region to lure the exceedingly dumb Georgian president into a war and give Russia a chance to attack the new pipeline. It is also no accident that these Russian-engineered incidents (the gas supply cut off in 2006, the South Ossetia War summer 2008 and the cut off threat now) all occur at times when world leaders are on a break and the public is distracted by holidays. (Israel also engineered its attack on the Palestinians for the Christmas break because the key players would be away at the time.) A crucial thing to always watch for is wars and stunts that take place in July-September and Christmas-new year. They are always deliberately timed to hit when the world is distracted.

Jesus Christ, take the tin foil hat off for one day at least.

You are saying that it was all a conspiracy by Putin.

All those thousands of Georgians were KGB agents I suppose. Then you talk of bombing a pipeline hundreds of miles away in a country that is only a few miles across.

Do ye Conspiracy Theory nut-jobs ever take a break

Mmmm, a source for that bit about the bombing of pipelines would be useful. All I could get was this: Georgia: Russia targets key oil pipeline with over 50 missiles

It would be a stretch to say that the war was all about fuel supplies, but they certainly played a part.

Supplies have been cut off as the contract has expired and no new one agreed. Russia says that the Ukraine is paying much less for gas than other states, the Ukraine says it is political punishment for their political alignment with the west.

300 million euro has been allocated by the EU for an "Eastern Partnership" launched today by the Czech Republic EU Presidency, with Georgia, the Ukraine, Aszerbajan and the Czech Republic.

Hungary joined the eurozone today - the euro is ten years in existence now.

cactus flower wrote:

Hungary joined the eurozone today - the euro is ten years in existence now.

No, it was Slovakia. Hungary still has the Forint.

johnfás wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Hungary joined the eurozone today - the euro is ten years in existence now.

No, it was Slovakia. Hungary still has the Forint.

Ooops. Thanks johnfás.

So the Ukraine is blaming Russia for cutting it off and Russia is blaming the Ukraine and now Barroso wants to bring in bodies to monitor exactly where the gas is not flowing ... This pipeline supplies about a quarter of the EU gas according to the FT below...

Quote :

EU calls crisis talks as gas flow stops

By Tony Barber in Prague, Charles Clover in Moscow and Roman Olearchyk in Kiev

Published: January 7 2009 08:35 | Last updated: January 7 2009 19:51

The European Union has called an emergency meeting with the heads of Russian and Ukrainian natural gas companies in a bid to end disruption to the EU’s ­supplies.

EU leaders hope the crisis talks in Brussels on Thursday with Alexei Miller, chief executive of Russia’s Gazprom, the world’s biggest gas company, and Oleh Dubyna, his counterpart at Ukraine’s Naftogaz, will lead to an immediate resumption of supplies. Russian gas flows across Ukraine were reduced earlier this week and cut off altogether on Wednesday.

The initiative marks the first time the EU has tried to use its weight as Russia’s largest energy customer, and its influence as a club of prosperous democracies that Ukraine seeks to join, to end a crisis in the gas market.

The EU said on Wednesday that it secured promises from Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko, the prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine, to allow the deployment of international monitors along the transit route to check on the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine.

There were furious exchanges between Moscow and Kiev, with Russia accusing Ukraine of shutting its EU-bound pipelines and Ukraine claiming that Russia had cut off the gas.

With Russia supplying about a quarter of the EU’s gas, and no supplies flowing along a route that accounts for 80 per cent of Russia’s shipments, growing shortages were reported on Wednesday in eastern and south-east Europe...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/877a7542-dc94-11dd-a2a9-000077b07658.html

It certaily looks as if Russia is yanking hard at the strings of the former USSR states dependent on Russian gas.

Some kind of deal has been done. with the Ukraine getting one more year before they pay market price for gas.

Hard to know what went on there, but half of Europe nearly froze to death in the process. The biggest loser seems to be Russia, as the whole business has seriously reawakened intentions to find alternative sources and pipelines for supplies.

Sadly not much talk of renewables.

The plot thickens:

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-03-04/Ukraine_gas_giant_raided_by_armed_security_agents.html

Quote :

Ukraine gas giant raided by armed security agents
04 March, 2009, 18:05: Russia Today.

Dozens of armed masked men have entered the headquarters of Ukraine’s national energy company Naftogaz in the capital Kiev.

The country’s security service says the agents have legal reasons for the raid, which is connected with a criminal case against the gas company.

Deputies from Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko’s Bloc made an attempt to enter the premises that were being searched but were stopped by the security service agents, which resulted in a scuffle.

Security service officials say the raid is aimed at confiscating documents relating to the criminal investigation of “misappropriation of 6.3 billion cubic metres of gas” by Naftogaz top officials.

According to the Naftogaz spokesman Valentin Zemlyansky, these include agreements with Russia’s Gazprom for supplies of natural gas to Ukraine and its transit across Ukraine in 2009-2011.

It was reported earlier that, based on the gas agreements between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and Naftogaz had announced the purchase of 11 billion cubic metres of gas earlier belonging to the Swiss-based gas trader RosUkrEnergo at US$ 153.9 per 1,000 cubic metres.

Timoshenko said on Wednesday that this gas had already undergone customs clearance. However, the security service has called this transaction illegal.

The security service insists that the investigation into the criminal case is proceeding under the supervision of the Prosecutor General's Office in strict compliance with the law.

According to Ukrainian parliament deputy Andrey Portnov, all Ukrainian gas has been confiscated under the prosecutor general’s order

Viktor Yushenko the President was said to be behind the raid, with Prime Minister Timoshenko and her Deputy opposed to it.

Quote :

Legal or illegal?
Meanwhile, the first deputy prime minister of Ukraine Aleksandr Turchinov has called on the staff of Ukraine’s security service not to fulfill ‘the criminal order’ concerning Naftogaz.

“You shouldn’t become the tools of criminals and corrupt officials who manage the country’s security service on the advice of Ukraine’s president,” Turchinov said.

He added that the main goal of the raid is to “seize the originals of documents on the company’s mutual exchanges with Russia’s Gazprom.”

These actions are a serious threat to the country’s national security, he said, and moreover, they may now face destruction.

There had been a plan agreed beforehand, Turchinov believes.

“When security service people appeared in Naftogaz, the deputy head of the company, Igor Didenko, was in the president’s secretariat. There his mobile phone was taken from him, so nobody could reach him on the phone for three hours,” Turchinov said.

Today Didenko – who now acts on behalf of the currently incapacitated head of Naftogaz Oleg Dubina, who is ill – was invited for a meeting at the president’s secretariat, but a little later the meeting was called off.

Earlier, Taras Shepitko, a deputy chief of Regional Energy Customs division was detained in connection with the case.

Gazprom worried
Gazprom is worried by the situation connected with the raid in the central office of the Naftogaz company by Ukraine’s security service, the press service of Gazprom said in an official statement.

“We hope that this event won’t affect the full and timely fulfillment of obligations by Naftogaz,” the statement added.

A Naftogaz spokesperson has stated that despite the latest events the company will pay Gazprom for the gas supplied in February.

“We will do our best to settle the accounts on time, everything is ready for this,” Zemlyansky said.

The Ukrainian company has to transfer $US 400 million to Gazprom by March 7.

Jaysus what's going on I don't understand any of that. Gas confiscated? Ukraine? Russia? Nuclear missiles????

Auditor #9 wrote:

Jaysus what's going on I don't understand any of that. Gas confiscated? Ukraine? Russia? Nuclear missiles????

It is hard to follow this, but it appears to be seen as setting the ground for reopening the dispute over payment by the Ukraine for gas supplied from Russia.

This in turn could knock on to supplies to the rest of Europe via the Ukraine.