Europe gets gas relief

YALTA, Ukraine, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The possibility of a regional natural gas crisis emerging in Europe was reduced in the wake of a deal between Kiev and Moscow, executives said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko welcomed Vladimir Putin, her Russian counterpart, to Yalta last week to discuss bilateral issues, which are plagued by a tumultuous energy relationship.

Russian gas giant Gazprom in January cut gas supplies to Ukraine briefly following disputes over prices and arrears. That row left European customers in the cold for weeks as roughly 80 percent of all Russian gas bound for Europe travels through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine.

A deal emerging in the wake of the meeting suggests Moscow would allow Kiev to buy less gas than outlined in the January contract for 2010 and remove a series of stiff punitive measures.

Russian officials, however, said January 2010 presidential elections in Ukraine, where Tymoshenko is challenging incumbent Viktor Yushchenko, and strains from the global recession could jeopardize the relief, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Officials at Ukrainian utility Naftogaz, for their part, said the new deal puts European customers at ease as demand for Russian gas decreases.

"You can't give a 100 percent guarantee, but this deal does significantly reduce the risk of a new gas conflict," officials told the Journal.