Report: Ukraine gas woes threaten EU winter supplies in mid-term

VIENNA, Jun 17 (PRIME) -- The unsolved gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine may undermine the gas supplies to Europe in the mid-term future, Austrian Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlener told O1 radio station in an interview Tuesday.

“We are ready for a crisis situation but I only see possible troubles in the middle-term perspective. We will have problems if we cannot find a political solution in negotiations between Ukraine and the E.U., I see signs of this,” Mitterlener said.

Kiev may again pilfer transit gas when it runs out of its own reserves, like it did in 2009, if the E.U. fails to find a political solution to the gas issue in the near future, he said.

Austria has enough gas reserves to run until February, the official said.

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-standing dispute about the price of gas provided by the 2009 contract with Moscow offering a U.S. $385 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. On Monday, Gazprom switched the Ukrainian pipeline off for the non-payment of a $4 billion debt and filed a $4.5 billion suit to the Stockholm arbitration court.

Ukraine retaliated with its own suit and said it would take more gas from reverse supplies of Russian gas going to Europe.

End