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Gas flow to Lithuania reported reduced by 30 percent

The volume of Russian gas deliveries to Lithuania through Belarus had been reduced by approximately 30 percent as of Wednesday noon, a source at AB Lietuvos Dujos, a Lithuanian natural gas utility owned by E.ON AG and OAO Gazprom, told BelaPAN.

In the event of interrupted deliveries through Belarus, Russian gas will be supplied to Lithuania via Latvia, the source said.

In a Tuesday telephone conversation with Gunther Oettinger, the European Union’s commissioner for energy, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir Syamashka did not give a clear reply to the question as to whether Belarus was going to shut down the transit of Russian natural gas via the country, the commissioner’s spokesperson, Marlene Holzner, told reporters.

“The vice premier neither confirmed nor denied the reports,” Ms. Holzner said.

At a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier in the day, Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that he had ordered the Russian gas flow through the territory of Belarus to be halted.