BRUSSELS—The European Union is bracing for another potential energy crisis in the dead of winter as Russian gas supplies to some member states have suddenly dwindled by up to 30 percent.

The European Commission put its gas coordination committee on alert Friday, but insisted the situation had not yet reached an emergency level as nations have pledged to help each other if needed and storage facilities have been upgraded.

Commission spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said Russia was going through an extremely cold spell and needed more gas to keep its citizens warm.

She said that Russia's gas contracts "allow for certain flexibility in case they also need the gas. And that is the situation that Russia is facing at the moment." The severe winter in Russia has seen temperatures drop to minus 35 C (minus 30 F).

Moscow has blamed Ukraine for the shortages, saying Kiev is siphoning off more than its share. Authorities in Ukraine have denied the accusation.

Ukraine's Fuel and Energy Minister Yuri Boiko said Friday that Russia was shipping some 15 percent less gas than usual because of increased domestic consumption due to the cold weather.

"We are taking gas in strict compliance with the contract, but because it isn't coming from Russia, of course it isn't reaching Europe," Boiko said, according to his office.

Similar tit-for-tat retorts were at the heart of previous crises. Twice over the past decade, disputes between Russia and Ukraine turned into European emergencies as gas supplies diminished, leaving the prospect of tens of millions of people across the continent without heat.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych didn't directly address the accusations during an appearance at a security conference in Munich, but did say that "for many years" Ukraine has been a "reliable transit country."

He acknowledged, however, that "instability of gas supplied in certain years to Europe has created conditions of distrust between three key partners" -- Ukraine, Russia and European customers.

The EU has improved coordination within the bloc to make sure Europeans would not be held hostage in another payment dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Holzner said the policy was paying off as gas deliveries this week slowed to Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Italy. She said that Poland was able to get some gas destined for Germany this week and that new storage facilities in countries like the Czech Republic and Slovakia were proving their value. Countries also now must have one month worth of gas supplies.

Gas deliveries were down by 30 percent in Austria on Thursday and 24 percent in Italy.

"It is not a situation of emergency yet," Holzner said.

Supplies from Russia to France's leading gas company GDF Suez were down 30 percent Friday, a company official said. Russia is a leading supplier to France.

Natural gas consumption in France hit a record high this week as exceptionally low temperatures hit countries around Europe. The GDF Suez official said it is tapping reserve stocks to make up the difference for now.

A Gazprom official said the Russian gas exporter was fulfilling its supply contracts, but European customers were asking for additional supplies.

"There is a difference between what they want and the contracted amounts," Sergei Komlev, who is responsible for Gazprom's export contracts and pricing, told journalists from Russian state news agencies.

To stave off a potential crisis, the EU alerted gas authorities, industry, consumer representatives and member states in a first step to meet the challenges ahead. A special meeting could be called in the days ahead if the situation worsens.

In related news...

French nitrogen-fertilizer shipments fell 19 percent to the lowest in at least four years from July through November, while phosphate and potassium deliveries also dropped, national fertilizer-industry association Unifa said.

Nitrogen sales in France, the European Union’s largest crop grower, fell to 864,000 metric tons in the first five months of the year begun July 1 from 1.06 million tons a year earlier, Paris-based Unifa said in an e-mailed statement today.

France is the 27-nation EU’s biggest crop-nutrient user, according to the International Fertilizer Industry Association. French grain farmers typically buy fertilizer for next year’s crop after most harvesting is done in September.

Potassium-fertilizer shipments in France fell 10 percent to 282,000 tons in the May-November period, while phosphate deliveries slid 24 percent to 221,000 tons, Unifa said.

The association tracks nitrogen sales on the basis of a year that starts July 1, while the marketing year for potassium and phosphorus begins May 1.

No gas, no fertilizer. No fertilizer, no crops. No crops, no bread. And we all know how pissy the frogs get about bread.

Bust out the popcorn!

jerrylewissux wrote:

In related news...

French nitrogen-fertilizer shipments fell 19 percent to the lowest in at least four years from July through November, while phosphate and potassium deliveries also dropped, national fertilizer-industry association Unifa said.

Nitrogen sales in France, the European Union’s largest crop grower, fell to 864,000 metric tons in the first five months of the year begun July 1 from 1.06 million tons a year earlier, Paris-based Unifa said in an e-mailed statement today.

France is the 27-nation EU’s biggest crop-nutrient user, according to the International Fertilizer Industry Association. French grain farmers typically buy fertilizer for next year’s crop after most harvesting is done in September.

Potassium-fertilizer shipments in France fell 10 percent to 282,000 tons in the May-November period, while phosphate deliveries slid 24 percent to 221,000 tons, Unifa said.

The association tracks nitrogen sales on the basis of a year that starts July 1, while the marketing year for potassium and phosphorus begins May 1.

No gas, no fertilizer. No fertilizer, no crops. No crops, no bread. And we all know how pissy the frogs get about bread.

Bust out the popcorn!

They could always go to Africa for a hand out,...

those Russian cunts really have the Euros by the balls

damn

They should tap Yulia's ass for gas, that is after all where she got her start, being tapped in exchange for gas,

Advantage, Putin and gazprom. Sucks to be euro these days.

Who gives a shit ?

In France we have the most power plants per capita. Our heating is mainly electricity.

And we have several months of gas reserves.


In the ass americans.

simplefrench wrote:

Who gives a shit ?

In France we have the most power plants per capita. Our heating is mainly electricity.

And we have several months of gas reserves.


In the ass americans.

Who cares? Not anyone in the USA. Have fun supplying aid and finances to those countries in the EU that don't have electric heat.

Dumb frog.

"Have fun supplying aid and finances to those countries in the EU that don't have electric heat"


I don't know about gas but i know that if France needs electricity,it imports it from germany and others neighbors .
And vice versa.There is a mutual aid


In short, american gigolo, the situation is controlled.

simplefrench wrote:

In short, american gigolo, the situation is controlled.

LOL,..... You have no idea how funny that sounds while I sip a glass of bourbon in front of an "ornamental fire", while my furnace keeps my house warm, when the temperature out side is warm 43 degrees F,...or 7 degrees Celsius.

FUCK FRANCE!!

LTKilling wrote:

those Russian cunts really have the Euros by the balls

damn

I said 25 years ago the UK should use human and Animal waste to be stored to create methane to turn into gas power- at such menthane storage plants.

Fuck em (in the UK) for not listenin.

lookanlearn wrote:


I said 25 years ago the UK should use human and Animal waste to be stored to create methane to turn into gas power- at such menthane storage plants.

Fuck em (in the UK) for not listenin.

How did you propose that this waste should be collected and stored?

BurnParis wrote:

simplefrench wrote:

In short, american gigolo, the situation is controlled.

LOL,..... You have no idea how funny that sounds while I sip a glass of bourbon in front of an "ornamental fire", while my furnace keeps my house warm, when the temperature out side is warm 43 degrees F,...or 7 degrees Celsius.

FUCK FRANCE!!

LOl. you think you are the only one having a chimney ,bourbon and a warm house ?

Here,it is -5 °C outside but warm inside.

VAVD wrote:

lookanlearn wrote:


I said 25 years ago the UK should use human and Animal waste to be stored to create methane to turn into gas power- at such menthane storage plants.

Fuck em (in the UK) for not listenin.

How did you propose that this waste should be collected and stored?

Concrete or METAL storage units like gas is; you put a lid on em (and a buckeful of a bacteria that RADICALLY increases the methane production).

I think Norway/Sweden used to do it a lot as they couldnt pipe chemical/ground gas there to the towns and villages.

Millions of cows; a lot of shit; too much methane in the sky.

Pipe it strait from the cows ass as they stand in line at the sheds. (my idea)

This is old stuff; bypassed when Oil was cheap-er.

simplefrench wrote:

BurnParis wrote:

simplefrench wrote:

In short, american gigolo, the situation is controlled.

LOL,..... You have no idea how funny that sounds while I sip a glass of bourbon in front of an "ornamental fire", while my furnace keeps my house warm, when the temperature out side is warm 43 degrees F,...or 7 degrees Celsius.

FUCK FRANCE!!

LOl. you think you are the only one having a chimney ,bourbon and a warm house ?

Here,it is -5 °C outside but warm inside.

In regards to BIO-GAS; think of how much shit comes out of an average Americans ass.

Remember how big their cities are...

Its FUEL dudes.

Add it to the animal shit... and you have a solution of two birds with one stone.

lookanlearn wrote:



Pipe it strait from the cows ass as they stand in line at the sheds.

It's possible that the British government felt that attaching a pipe to the buttocks of every cow in the United Kingdom might be somewhat problematic; hence their failure to consider your rather unique proposal.

How do you suggest human waste might be collected? A requirement to turn it into local authorities or something similar?

VAVD wrote:

lookanlearn wrote:



Pipe it strait from the cows ass as they stand in line at the sheds.

It's possible that the British government felt that attaching a pipe to the buttocks of every cow in the United Kingdom might be somewhat problematic; hence their failure to consider your rather unique proposal.

How do you suggest human waste might be collected? A requirement to turn it into local authorities or something similar?

They manage to milk every cow in the UK; do you see a Big problem with that?
And I was talking about the cows stood in sheds all day; not the `free range` period for cows.

As for Human Waste; the sewage treatment plants could be adapted-developed.

You keep finding the problems, maybe I will keep providing the solutions, with others..

Even the Arabs are planning to do it; rather than shoving shit into the sea forevermore..
www.najah.edu . . .

I suppose your plan would have the authorities introduce laxatives into the water supply should supply lag behind demand? Or, conversely, should there be an oversupply in the market for methane, substances could be introduced into the water supply to induce constipation in the populace?

Very interesting idea. Perhaps you should write it up and submit it to the European Commission, if the British government isn't farsighted enough to recognize the obvious merits in your proposal.

VAVD wrote:

I suppose your plan would have the authorities introduce laxatives into the water supply should supply lag behind demand? Or, conversely, should there be an oversupply in the market for methane, substances could be introduced into the water supply to induce constipation in the populace?

Very interesting idea. Perhaps you should write it up and submit it to the European Commission, if the British government isn't farsighted enough to recognize the obvious merits in your proposal.

Nah; the concept is only one small part of a full range of power production facilities. Of course the governemnt are just as narrow minded as you are and that is why there are massive debts and shortages that only wars fix later.

Enjoy your ignorance dude.

VAVD wrote:

lookanlearn wrote:


I said 25 years ago the UK should use human and Animal waste to be stored to create methane to turn into gas power- at such menthane storage plants.

Fuck em (in the UK) for not listenin.

How did you propose that this waste should be collected and stored?

.... simple could pick it up when he's done with his paper route.

As for Human Waste; the sewage treatment plants could be adapted-developed.

You keep finding the problems, maybe I will keep providing the solutions, with others..

Even the Arabs are planning to do it; rather than shoving shit into the sea forevermore..


....ooooh so that's how they bury their dead.

flyindutchman wrote:

VAVD wrote:

lookanlearn wrote:


I said 25 years ago the UK should use human and Animal waste to be stored to create methane to turn into gas power- at such menthane storage plants.

Fuck em (in the UK) for not listenin.

How did you propose that this waste should be collected and stored?

.... simple could pick it up when he's done with his paper route.

Yawn.
How fucked is the world with the current US lassaize faire mentality?
Enjoy your riots come summer...

lookanlearn wrote:


Nah; the concept is only one small part of a full range of power production facilities. Of course the governemnt are just as narrow minded as you are and that is why there are massive debts and shortages that only wars fix later.

Enjoy your ignorance dude.

You misunderstand me, LnL. I wasn't dismissing your idea, merely exploring its ramifications.

Perhaps you should consider including mandatory defecation points in your proposal. This would be similar to the color-coded trash cans you see in Europe, but on a grander scale. Legislation could be passed to require the citizenry to defecate only at authorized collection points, thus making the process of collection of human waste for conversion to methane fuel more efficient. Harsh penalties would be imposed for those who breach public order by excreting waste at unauthorized locations.

However, rather than pursing merely a "carrot and stick approach", an educational campaign should be funded by the European Commission. This should be aimed first at the very young, so the habit of pursuing socially-acceptable defecation becomes ingrained from an early age, reducing the necessity for punitive measures. Maybe something aimed at children, like "Captain Euro" or "Mr Fruitness" would be a good idea. Just as a working title, you could call him "Super Anus", a right-thinking European who, for the collective good, has developed a superhuman ability to restrain his bowel movements until they can be conducted in an appropriate location.

VAVD wrote:

lookanlearn wrote:


Nah; the concept is only one small part of a full range of power production facilities. Of course the governemnt are just as narrow minded as you are and that is why there are massive debts and shortages that only wars fix later.

Enjoy your ignorance dude.

You misunderstand me, LnL. I wasn't dismissing your idea, merely exploring its ramifications.

Perhaps you should consider including mandatory defecation points in your proposal. This would be similar to the color-coded trash cans you see in Europe, but on a grander scale. Legislation could be passed to require the citizenry to defecate only at authorized collection points, thus making the process of collection of human waste for conversion to methane fuel more efficient. Harsh penalties would be imposed for those who breach public order by excreting waste at unauthorized locations.

However, rather than pursing merely a "carrot and stick approach", an educational campaign should be funded by the European Commission. This should be aimed first at the very young, so the habit of pursuing socially-acceptable defecation becomes ingrained from an early age, reducing the necessity for punitive measures. Maybe something aimed at children, like "Captain Euro" or "Mr Fruitness" would be a good idea. Just as a working title, you could call him "Super Anus", a right-thinking European who, for the collective good, has developed a superhuman ability to restrain his bowel movements until they can be conducted in an appropriate location.

You don`t have to fret yourself; the shitting can carry on as normal; all the solutions are down sewer. Assuming the oil will run out one day. And nuclear power. Yellowcake has a limitation in supply you realise?

Progress can continue with all methods. But you miss a method, its like being born without a kidney.