Pipeliners

[Neftegaz.ru] - 08.05.2007 - An explosion destroyed a section of a pipeline in Ukraine carrying Russian natural gas to Europe. No injuries were reported, and technicians quickly rerouted the gas to other pipelines, NY Times reported. In a telephone interview, a spokesman for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, played down the possibility of sabotage. But later in the day, the minister for transport, Mykola Rudkovsky, said on Ukrainian television that the pipe might have been sabotaged as “part of a planned attempt to destabilize” the country, the Interfax news agency in Russia reported. Russia provides about a quarter of Europe’s natural gas, 80 percent of which is pumped through aging pipes on Ukraine’s territory. Gazprom, the Russian natural gas company, said its customers in Europe would not be affected.