BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/08/2007

Gas supply reduction to Belarus "alarming" for Lithuania (Extra)

Riga - Lithuania on Thursday was hoping it would not experience gas shortages as Russia and Belarus were headed for a renewed energy conflict.

'The situation is really complicated and quite alarming. I hope that in spite of all of this, our neighbour Belarus will allow the volume of gas supplied to Lithuania to pass through its territory. This is what matters most to us,' Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas told Ziniu Radias radio station Thursday.

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom threatened to reduce supplies to Belarus by 45 per cent starting at 9 am (0600 GMT) Friday, saying Belarus had paid only 55 per cent of its bills for the first half of this year.

'We are indeed concerned,' the acting director of the Economic Security Department in Lithuania, Andrius Kalindra, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Last winter, when Russia cut its supplies to Belarus, Lithuania experienced an insignificant shortage in gas supplies from Russia, Kalindra said.

'Gazprom has assured us that there should not be any restrictions to natural gas deliveries (to Lithuania). On the other hand, we are prepared for any situation. If supplies are disrupted, we will import gas from the underground natural gas storage facility in Latvia,' Lithuanian Gas technical director Jonas Janulionis told Baltic News Service, BNS.

2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Source:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1337991.php/Gas_supply_reduction_to_Belarus_"alarming"_for_Lithuania__Extra_

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