Poland resumes gas deliveries to Ukraine

WARSAW, Poland — Poland has resumed deliveries of gas to Ukraine that it had halted after its own supplies from Russia dropped this week, the state pipeline operator said Friday.

The statement by Gaz-System S.A. suggests gas flows from Russian supplier Gazprom are once again meeting Poland's daily demand.

State gas company, PGNiG, said that on Thursday it still registered some deficit compared to the ordered amount, but that the shortfall was lower than on Wednesday, when supplies were 45 percent short of demand. Data for Friday was expected during the weekend.

The head of PGNiG, Mariusz Zawisza, told Polish PAP agency that the company raised its demand for Russian gas in recent days due to market needs.

"We place gas orders according to our needs. We stick to the provisions of the contract, and we do not exceed the maximum daily volumes," Zawisza said, without offering any figures.

The contract is based on a volume range, but the details are not made public.

The spat between Poland and Russia came amid concerns that Moscow is ready to use its energy exports as a political weapon over the crisis in Ukraine.

"We do not treat the situation as a crisis," Zawisza said. "It is just one incident."

Zawisza said that after Germany and Italy, Poland is Gazprom's third largest European client. Poland uses some 15 billion cubic meters of gas a year and about 60 percent of that is covered by imports from Russia.

Germany, Austria and Romania have also reported a small drop in Russian gas flows this week.