The European Union (EU) said on Monday that the disruption of oil supplies from Russia to the EU through Belarus posed "no immediate risk" to energy supplies in the bloc.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs was in close contact with Polish, German, Slovak and other European authorities to evaluate the impact following an interruption of oil supplies from a pipeline running through Belarus to Poland and Western Europe, Piebalgs' spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny said.

"Although there is no immediate risk for the supply of oil in the European Union, I'm considering to convene the oil supply group later this week to evaluate the impact of the situation," the commissioner said in a statement read out by his spokesman.

At the oil supply group meeting experts of the 27 EU countries may discuss whether they have to use their strategic oil reserves, he said.

Piebalgs said he had asked Russian and Belarussian authorities to provide "an urgent and detailed explanation of the causes of this disruption."

Belarus has reportedly blocked the transit of Russian oil through its territory to EU countries, including Germany and Poland, after a dispute over the imposition of transit duties on Russian oil exports to the EU.

Poland now has oil reserves sufficient for more than 70 days and Germany has 130 days of stocks, the spokesman said, adding that there is no reason to be alarmed now.

The EU relies on Russia for a quarter of its oil and gas imports, and part of the Russian exports to the EU transit through Belarus, mainly to Poland, Germany and Lithuania.

Belarus and Russia's natural gas monopoly signed a five-year contract last week for gas supplies, averting a cut-off of supplies from Russia to Belarus which could affect EU countries.

Under the agreement, Belarus will pay Russian energy giant Gazprom twice as much for Russian gas in 2007 than it did in 2006.

Belarus has since demanded that Russia pay transit fees for its oil exports to the EU through the Belarussian territory, but Russia refused.

Espuny said Monday that the EU hoped the two countries could reach a satisfactory agreement and this should not cause any interruption of energy supplies to the EU.

Source: Xinhua