* Russia says agrees 2010 oil transit terms with Ukraine
* No deal with Belarus means Poland, Germany exposed on oil
-- Removes second bullet point at head of Dec. 28 story and
paragraph 10 which erroneously reported remarks by Gazprom CEO
Alexei Miller that he made earlier in December, not on Monday --
(Releads with Russian ministry on oil deal)
By Gleb Bryanski and Martin Santa
MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it had
agreed terms for a new oil deal with Ukraine a few hours after
spooking Europe with a warning the continent could face oil
supply cuts because of a dispute between Moscow and Kiev.
"Within the framework of intensive negotiations, the terms
of a transit deal have been agreed," a spokeswoman for Russia's
energy ministry said, adding that the deal would be signed in
the coming days and no interruption in supplies was expected.
The statement came hours after Slovak Prime Minister Robert
Fico said he saw an increased risk of a halt in Russian oil
supplies to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via
Druzhba, a major oil pipeline crossing Ukraine, from Jan. 1.
Europe, which receives much of its oil and gas from Russia,
has closely tracked disputes between Russia and its neighbours
after EU gas supplies were cut in the dead of winter in 2006 and
2009 due to rows between Russia and Ukraine.
A fifth of the EU's gas comes from Russia, the world's
largest oil and gas producer, via pipelines across Ukraine.
Ukraine itself is reliant on gas from Russia and has disagreed
with Moscow in the past over price.
A Russian oil pipeline monopoly executive said on Monday the
tension had arisen because Ukrainian politicians were setting
"unacceptable" terms for transit of Russian oil via Ukraine's
Black Sea port Yuzhny. []
Ukraine moved to calm any fears of another stand-off over
energy between the two former Soviet republics on New Year's Day
like the one at the start of this year, when gas supplies were
ut and millions of Europeans were left in the cold.
"Within Ukraine there are no threats, no risks," said Bohdan
Sokolovsky, the energy envoy of Ukraine's President Viktor
Yushchenko, adding that Moscow's warning to the EU about a
possible oil supply halt was aimed at discrediting Kiev.
The earlier cuts occurred amid strained political relations
between Moscow and its neighbours. Ukraine will hold a
presidential election in January and analysts have said that if
a relatively pro-Russian leader is elected, Moscow is likely to
take a more accommodating stance in future energy negotiations.
DRUZHBA PIPELINE IN FOCUS
U.S. crude oil <CLc1> rose to above $79 a barrel on Monday,
the highest in more than a month, largely because of colder
weather across the major energy market the United States. The
tensions involving Russia provided additional support. []
Sokolovsky said Ukraine wanted Russia to pay higher transit
fees, switch to euros from dollars and guarantee minimal supply
volumes, adding that demands had been sent to Moscow in
November.
Russia's energy ministry did not say how new demands were
solved by the two sides late on Friday.
The demand comes as the International Monetary Fund has
rejected Kiev's request for a $2 billion loan to help the
recession-strapped country meet obligations by year's end.
A European Union source said oil stocks in Hungary, Slovakia
and the Czech Republic were adequate to withstand possible cuts.
[]
Russia sent its warning to the European Union suggesting a
possible repeat of the January 2007 oil dispute with Belarus.
Belarus cut Russian oil flows to Europe via the same Druzhba
oil pipeline in January 2007, also due to a pricing row, which
further undermined the image of Russia as a reliable supplier.
"From the EU point of view, the early warning systems have
worked," said a EU source, referring to a recent deal under
which Russia has to warn the continent about supply problems.
The Druzhba pipeline supplies Slovakia, Hungary and the
Czech Republic via Ukraine with more than 300,000 barrels per
day of crude while another spur goes via Belarus to Germany and
Poland shipping some 800,000 bpd.
Germany and Poland so far have no guarantees of supplies in
the new year as Moscow and Minsk are struggling to agree on
volumes of duty-free Russian oil for Belarus. []
Russia's top energy official Igor Sechin said on Monday he
hoped the deal with Belarus would be signed on Dec. 30-31.
"If no deal is reached then we will have to apply full fees
from Jan. 1," he told reporters.
For a factbox on Druzhba see []
(Additional reporting by Luke Baker in Brussels, Pavel
Polityuk and Sabina Zawadzki in Kiev and Tanya Mosolova, Antohn
Doroshev and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; Writing by Dmitry
Zhdannikov; Editing by Christian Wiessner and Anthony Barker)
