The European Union on Wednesday warned Russia and Ukraine that they face long-term consequences unless they immediately resolve a dispute that has cut gas supplies to Europe and left some countries struggling to heat up homes over the winter.

"If the transit (of Russian gas through Ukraine) does not go as normal, we will have a real problem", and the EU will have to conclude that "we no longer consider the supply of gas from Russia through Ukraine as credible," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Moscow/Kiev - Russia has halted all supplies of gas to Western European customers in an escalation of the energy dispute between Moscow and Ukraine, a spokesman for Ukrainian gas monopoly Naftogaz said on Thursday morning.

The Naftogaz statement, reported by the Interfax agency, came after Austrian Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner told local radio on Wednesday that his country had received no supplies from Russia via Ukraine overnight.

The sharp escalation in the energy war between Ukraine and Russia led to big cuts in gas supplies across Europe Tuesday amid freezing winter temperatures.

The second reduction since January 1 by Russian gas monopolist Gazprom saw shipments cut to just 72 million cubic meters of gas for European consumers, from 260 million on Monday and an average of 300 million previously.

Officials in both Russia and Ukraine confirmed plans to renew talks on ending the conflict in Moscow on Thursday. But the sides remained far apart on a host of issues.

Budapest  - At 3.30 p. m. on Tuesday, Ukraine completely shut off the flow of natural gas to its western neighbour Hungary, the minister for energy Csaba Molnar said after a crisis meeting.

From Wednesday morning, power stations than can will have to switch to alternative sources of energy, Molnar announced. He added that further restrictions on the industrial use of gas might still have to be made.

Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (P&NGRB) has allowed Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) to implement gas distribution network in the entire national capital region of Delhi. IGL supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) across NCR.

It is a joint venture of State run GAIL (India) Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd along with Government of NCT of Delhi.

Vienna - Russia cut its supply of natural gas to Austria by 90 per cent Monday night, Austrian oil and gas supplier OMV AG said Tuesday.

The reduction came amid Ukraine's conflict with Russian state gas company Gazprom, which pipes its gas to Western Europe through the Ukraine.

OMV would be able to keep up its delivery to end customers by using its stock of 1.7 billion cubic metres, the company said.

"That way, the supply situation is secured," said Werner Auli, one of OMV's chief executives.

However, the amount of natural gas piped from Austria to Hungary fell on Tuesday, illustrating the effects of the spat between the Ukraine and Russia.