KIEV, April 2 - Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine fell by nearly 53 percent to 16.4 billion cubic metres in the first quarter of 2009 from 34.7 billion in the same period of 2008, state energy company Naftogaz said on Thursday.
"Latest data show from the first quarter put transit at 16.4 bcm," Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky told Reuters. "Transit had initially been planned at 28.4 bcm."
Zemlyansky gave no explanation for the decline, but an official from Ukraine's pipeline monopoly Ukrtransgaz last month linked the decline to a fall in consumption in Europe.
"Latest data show from the first quarter put transit at 16.4 bcm," Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky told Reuters. "Transit had initially been planned at 28.4 bcm."
Zemlyansky gave no explanation for the decline, but an official from Ukraine's pipeline monopoly Ukrtransgaz last month linked the decline to a fall in consumption in Europe.
