Dec 28, 2006, 14:00 GMT
Essen, Germany - Germany is not likely be hit by a gas price dispute between Russian supplier Gazprom and Belarus, the main German long-distance pipeline operator, E.ON Ruhrgas, said Thursday.
Belarus has hinted it may limit transit shipments through its pipeline network if Gazprom persists with a January 1 deadline to agree to higher purchase prices for gas.
Tatjana Dreyer, a spokeswoman for E.ON Ruhrgas in the German city of Essen, said the company could cope with supply constrictions. E.ON Ruhrgas is the main non-Russian shareholder in Gazprom.
'We receive gas from six different sources, and a major proportion of the gas from Russia comes via Ukraine,' said Dreyer.
'Belarus is not an essential transport route,' she said. On top of that, German underground gas storage sites were fairly full.
Wingas, a Russian-German joint company that is the main importer and wholesaler of gas in Germany, had said on Wednesday it was unconcerned by the threat. Belarus pipelines carry 29 per cent of the Russian gas exported to western Europe.
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