Main Russia-W.Europe gas line shut

PRAGUE/BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Gas supplies through the main transit pipeline from Russia to Western Europe stopped completely overnight, the Czech and Slovak gas companies said on Wednesday.

"The main pipeline from the east was closed from midnight. Supplies are at zero for Slovakia and the Czech Republic," said a spokesman for the Czech gas importer RWE Transgas.

Slovak gas firm Slovensky Plynarensky Priemysel (SPP), run by GDF Suez and E.ON, confirmed gas flow had stopped completely during the night.

SPP, which declared the state of emergency with gas supplies on Tuesday, added it was reducing gas deliveries to large customers with consumption exceeding 60,000 cubic metres to a "safe minimum."

Slovak Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek said Slovakia had natural gas reserves of around 2.0 billion cubic metres, which accounts for a third of the country's annual consumption.

In the Czech Republic, the spokesman said RWE Transgas was meeting all its customers' needs. The company has said it had reserves equal to 40 days' consumption.

RWE Transgas said it was making up for the shortage by tapping reserves and raising alternative supplies through a separate pipeline bringing mainly Norwegian gas.

Europe faced a deepening energy crunch and more sub-zero temperatures on Wednesday, with Moscow and Kiev showing little sign of a swift resolution of a pricing dispute that has slashed Russian gas supplies to the West.

The EU, which takes a quarter of its gas from Russia, has called on Russia and Ukraine to settle their dispute and resume normal deliveries immediately.