Russian gas deliveries to Poland via Ukraine drop six per cent

(WARSAW) - Deliveries of Russian natural gas to European Union member Poland via Ukraine dropped by six percent on Friday, Poland's Gaz-System national gas distributor said in a statement.

"Deliveries of natural gas coming from Ukraine via the Drozdowicze terminal...have dropped this afternoon compared to the expected amount. Around 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) we registered a daily decline of six percent in the amount of contracted gas," the statement said.

The decline has been compensated by an increase in Russian natural gas deliveries to Poland via Belarus and will not impact consumers, Gaz-System said.

Poland depends on Russia for some 40 percent of its natural gas supplies. A quarter comes from its own resources while 20 percent is imported from Central Asia.

Russia cut natural gas supplies for the Ukrainian market on New Year's Day amid a payments row. A similar dispute in 2006 disrupted supplies to western Europe.

Around a quarter of the gas used in the European Union -- more than 40 percent of the gas imported by the bloc -- comes from Russia, most of it pumped in pipelines through Ukraine.

On Friday Russia and Ukraine traded accusations over the supply and transportation of gas with Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz claiming that Russia's Gazprom was not providing sufficient gas to ensure supplies for clients downstream in Europe.

The accusation came after Gazprom accused Ukraine of stealing gas from the pipeline network used to ship Russian gas to European countries west of Ukraine.

The EU's Czech presidency has called an extraordinary meeting of envoys from the 27 member states Monday to discuss the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile Gazprom vice president Alexander Medvedev was expected to arrive in Prague Saturday to lay the groundwork for a tour of EU states aimed at presenting Russia's side in the row.