What A Gas

More problems with Russia and Europe's gas supplies: Reuters.

And from OpenEurope:

EU gas supplies suffer further cuts;

Delegation to meet Gazprom officials today

Russia has ordered further cuts in gas supplies to Europe as part of its ongoing dispute over payment from Ukraine. The Times reports that EU ambassadors predicted cuts of up to 20% at a private meeting yesterday and 10 countries have already reported reduced gas flows from Ukrainian pipelines. The Commission and the Czech Presidency dispatched a fact-finding mission to Kiev yesterday to investigate the disruptions, according to European Voice.

EUobserver states that supplies from Russia to the EU via Ukraine fell overnight by 70%. The article also states the Prime Minister Valdimir Putin ordered the cuts in supplies to the Gazprom CEO live on Russian television.

The Irish Times writes that both Moscow and Kiev have urged the EU to mediate the dispute, but it is "loath to intervene". However, a European delegation including Commission officials are due to meet executives from Gazprom, the state-owned energy firm, today in Berlin.

A leader in the WSJ argues that Europe has failed to diversify Europe's gas supplies and it has been indecisive about alternate pipelines to pursue, such as the Nabucco pipeline, which could supply gas from central Asia rather than Russia. A comment piece by Jan Rokita in the Polish daily Dziennik argues that the decision of Bulgaria and Hungary to opt for the South Stream gas pipeline project over the Nabucco pipeline project, of which they were important partners, was a major event in 2008 and came following influence from Moscow.

As usual, it seems that everyone concerned is a fuckwit.

Luckily for the UK, most of our Russian gas doesn't come via Ukraine. On the other hand, energy supply in the UK is going to prove a real problem.