(Oil and Gas News) Gazprom cut-off date extended

Russian gas giant Gazprom has cancelled a threatened cut-off of gas supplies to Belarus, after receiving the first payment to clear nearly half a billion dollars in debt. European gas suppliers are nervous because their consumers receive 20 percent of their Russian gas via Belarus. Western European consumers briefly saw shipments of Russian oil fall in January, when Moscow cut off shipments through a Belarussian oil pipeline. A similar dispute over gas prices between Russia and Ukraine, another key transit country, prompted cut-offs last year that hit supplies to western Europe and sparked a wide debate about growing reliance on Russian energy. The European Commission has called a meeting of the EU’s gas coordination group for next week to discuss a safe and undisturbed supply of energy. The UN s Jan Eliasson (right) and his AU counterpart Salim Ahmed Salim are heading up meetings this weekend on enforcing this week’s UN Security Council Resolution 1769 authorizing a force of 26,000 troops and police for Darfur. read more

[Tags]gas, european, russian, debt, gazprom, belarus, oil and gas news[/Tags]

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