Russian natural gas deliveries fell substantially in downstream markets on Saturday, drawing a sharp European Union demand the Kremlin and Ukraine end a row over energy, according to DPA. Russian natural gas volumes pumped via Ukrainian pipelines to Romania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania all were down, with Romania registering a 33 per cent cut in deliveries. Russia on Thursday halted natural gas deliveries to Ukraine because of a delivery contract dispute. Fuel volumes moving onward to Europe fell marginally on Friday. The Kremlin at the time said it was leaving volumes sent to Europe unchanged. But on Friday evening, Kiev announced it would siphon some of the Europe-bound gas for its own needs, citing the absence of a contract between Ukraine and Russia for shipping gas to the EU. Gas volumes from Russia to Hungary had fallen 25 per cent, and to 6 per cent into Poland, according to statements from energy officials in the countries. The energy supply reductions came against as forecasts calls for falling temperatures across eastern and central Europe, with some regions expected to see temperatures fall as low as 20 degrees below zero centigrade. Slovakia relies on Russia for all of its gas needs, while Hungary gets 65 per cent and Poland 46 per cent of its gas from Russia, according to figures from the International Energy Agency in Paris. The shortfalls drew a sharp demand from the EU that Russia and Ukraine resolve their row over gas deliveries and stop jeopardizing supplies to the bloc. The bloc's statement called "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 statement was released late Friday evening by the Czech government, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency.
