EU eyes gas cut warning tool in transit countries

By Catherine Hornby

AMSTERDAM, March 10 (Reuters) - The European Union should expand warning systems that detect falls in gas flows into Europe to include gas transit countries to help deal with future supply shocks, an EU Commission energy policy coordinator said.

EU countries already monitor gas flows at their borders and alert each other to supply interruptions.

They despatched a team of experts to Russia and the Ukraine to monitor flows to Europe in mid January after Russia cut flows to Ukraine on New Year's Day.

But the move was only temporary and the current border warning system can only spot a drop in supplies when it may be too late to react.

"We urgently need to extend our early warning mechanism to transit countries," Christian Cleutinx, a coordinator of Russia-EU energy dialogue for the EU Commission said on the sidelines of the Flame conference in Amsterdam.

He said the warning system had helped pick up falling flows into Europe during this year's crisis but said extending it to Russian gas transit countries such as Belarus and Ukraine would help to deal with supply cuts more effectively in future.

Cleutinx agreed with other experts at the conference that improving pipeline links within the EU, developing storage and new supply sources while boosting the liquidity of gas trading hubs could also improve supply security across the bloc.

"There needs to be better interconnectivity West to East to improve liquidity," said Richard Guerrant, ExxonMobil's Director for Europe.