The European Union (EU) called on Friday for immediate resumption of full deliveries of gas to its member states after Hungary and Poland suffered reduced supplies due to Russia's dispute with Ukraine.
"The European Union calls for an urgent solution to the commercial dispute on gas supplies from the Russian Federation to Ukraine and for an immediate resumption of full deliveries of gas to the EU member states," the Czech government, which assumed the EU presidency in the new year, said in a statement.
It said the EU regrets the fact that assurances of the reliability of energy supply have not been met and will continue to monitor the situation closely.
"Existing commitments to supply and transit have to be honored under all circumstances," the statement said.
The European Commission said separately it had been informed by the gas transmission operators of Hungary and in Poland about irregularities in gas received through the Ukrainian gas pipelines.
Hungary suffered a reduction of 10 million cubic meters out of a contracted volume of 42 million cubic meters, while Polish company Gas System declared that gas deliveries from Ukraine had been reduced around 6 percent compared with the volumes of gas contracted.
Meanwhile, the gas volumes coming from Russia to Poland through Belarus have been increased.
The commission said at this point in time there is no immediate danger for the supplies of European citizens.
Russia halted supply of natural gas to Ukraine on Thursday after the two sides failed to reach a deal on a contract dispute, arousing concerns that gas supply to Europe may be disrupted since the EU receives a fifth of its gas from pipelines which cross Ukraine.
EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said he will be in contact with all the parties involved to identify the causes of the irregularities and ask for the immediate resumption of full deliveries of gas to the EU.
A spokesman for the Czech presidency said Friday a crisis meeting of envoys from the 27 EU member states will be held Monday to discuss the gas dispute between Russian and Ukraine.
(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2009)