Natural resources

Gas flow from Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom to Slovakia contracted 10 percent on Thursday, a top gas supplying company in the country has announced.

Slovakia's SPP has confirmed that supplies have been reduced, the Wall Street Journal and the Ukrainian website ZN.ua report.

Slovakia starts shipping natural gas to Ukraine.

The Vojany-Uzhgorod reverse gas pipeline, which passed tests successfully in August, is to supply up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Ukraine at a price of USD 360 per 1000 cubic meters, down by USD 25 from the price offered by Russian Gazprom to Ukraine, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

By Henning Gloystein

LONDON - The European Union could ban gas exports and limit industrial use as part of emergency measures to protect household energy supplies this winter, a source told Reuters, as it braces for a possible halt in Russian gas as a result of the Ukraine crisis.

The international tender issued by the government last week for oil drilling in 20 areas in the Ionian Sea, Western Greece and off Crete, contains terms that can only be met by very large oil companies. Environment and Energy Ministry officials confirmed that these terms result from a targeted strategy to attract oil giants, mainly dictated by the great depths of the areas to be drilled.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has switched to advanced payment mode for gas deliveries to Ukraine's Naftogaz, company officials have announced.

Gazprom has also filed a lawsuit at the Stockholm arbitration court, in an attempt to get back its gas debts.

The decision has been in force since 10:00 Moscow Time (06:00 GMT), a company message cited by ITAR-TASS agency shows.

Gazprom plans to export 158.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas this year to Europe, including Turkey, down from 161.5 bcm shipped in 2013, the state-controlled company said on June 3.

Gazprom added that the average gas price it was charging its clients in Europe, including Turkey, was $387 per 1,000 cubic meters last year.

Greece's gas transmission network operator DESFA has guaranteed its readiness to reverse gas flow through the reverse-flow gas grid interconnection Kulata/Sidirokastro.

As a result, Bulgaria will be able to receive gas supplies from Greece, in the case of a gas crisis.

Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller expects that the contract between Gazprom and China's CNPC could affect the gas prices for Europe, reports the Russian-language version of ITAR-TASS. 

“We suppose that the contract will affect the gas prices for the European market,” Miller said at the  St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

Eighteen out of 24 Ukrainian regions have declared they have insufficient amount of liquefied gas (LNG), with Western town and cities most severely affected, local media report.

Russia's energy giant Gazprom and Chinese CNPC have signed a huge gas deliveries deal estimated at USD 400 B, following talks between state leaders.

The deal is expected to pump 1.14 trillion cubic meters of gas into China over the next thirty years and will provide some 38 bcm yearly, a fourth or fifth of what is delivered to Europe for the same period.