Bulgaria's Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev had emergency phone calls Tuesday afternoon with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Vasiunyk, and Russian energy giant Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller, in which he demanded objective data about the gas supplies destined to Bulgaria.
At 3:30 a.m. local time (0130 GMT) Tuesday morning, all natura lgas supplies for Bulgaria and the adjacent Balkan countries were cut off at the Ukraine-Romania border without any explanations, local press reported.
Bulgaria's natural gas consumption had been cut by two thirds as the Russian gas supplies were terminated, and the country had to rely only on its reserves at the Chiren Storage Facility.
However, according to Dimiter Gogov, CEO of Bulgaria's state-owned gas monopoly Bulgargaz, the country's natural gas reserves might end in a few days.
"Countries in Southeast Europe are facing a hard situation. Bulgaria is seriously affected, and this tendency is obvious in the gas deliveries to West Europe," the prime minister declared atthe extraordinary press conference organized at the Council of Ministers later on the day.
"I stated clearly that Bulgaria cannot become a hostage in a bilateral dispute between Russia and the Ukraine. We insist that everyone fulfill their obligations, and that the European Union take emergency measures to deal with the terminated gas supplies for the Balkans," said Stanishev.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin responded to Stanishev's demand of objective data about the gas supplies by stating that the Ukraine had diverted 65 million cubic meters of natural gas from the transit supplies destined for others countries between Jan. 1 and Jan. 5.
In his conversation with Stanishev, Putin expressed Russia's regret that Bulgaria was impeccable in its payments to Gazprom but was among the countries affected most by the crisis.
Stanishev put forth the idea that an independent observer such a Swiss multinational company was needed to monitor the Russian supplies and the Ukrainian transit.
Russian natural gas supplies cover about 90 percent of Bulgaria's needs, and from Jan. 3 the Russian gas supply to Bulgaria has been reducing 10 percent to 15 percent because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict over gas supply.
On Jan. 1, Russia and its energy monopoly Gazprom officially cut off supplies of natural gas to Ukraine. Ukraine owes the energy giant about over two billion U.S. dollars for past natural gas deliveries while it disputes the new price set by Gazprom for 2009 deliveries, which is more than double the price from 2008.
Source:Xinhua
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