BRUSSELS, July 30, /ITAR-TASS/. The European Commission hopes that despite the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia, natural gas supplies from Russia will be stable, the commission press service said on Wednesday.
It said the EU proceeds from the assumption that despite the current circumstances, Russia will fulfil its contract obligations before European gas consumers and maintain stable supplies.
An Itar-Tass source in European institutions said on Tuesday that the package of sectoral sanctions against Russia would include a ban on the supplies of equipment and technology for the oil production sector, but the gas sector would not fall under the sanctions.
According to available information, the EU intends to ban the supplies to Russia of the equipment and technology for offshore oil production, polar oil production, production of oil in shale layers and in deep and ultra-deep drilling. Initially, the sanctions draft envisaged similar restrictions or the gas industry, however, this caused strong objection on the part of a number EU countries, so the gas sector was excluded from the sanctions package under the threat of its failure.
The EU Council will make the final decision on the sanctions’ approval on July 31 in a “written procedure” regime, that is, without calling a summit or a ministerial meeting.