Prague  - The European Union Saturday threatened to bypass Russia and Ukraine for the bloc's gas needs if irregularities in Russian gas supplies via Ukraine persist in the future, Czech officials said.

Czech Vice-Premier for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra said the EU was ready to speed up work on Nord Stream and South Stream pipelines that would bring Russian gas to Europe without passing through Ukraine.

Moscow/Brussels/Kiev/Budapest/Prague - Russian natural gas deliveries fell substantially in downstream markets on Saturday, drawing a sharp European Union demand the Kremlin and Ukraine end a row over energy.

Russian natural gas volumes pumped via Ukrainian pipelines to Romania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania all were down, with Romania registering a 33 per cent cut in deliveries.

Russia on Thursday halted natural gas deliveries to Ukraine because of a delivery contract dispute. Fuel volumes moving onward to Europe fell marginally on Friday.

Budapest/Brussels - The European Union reported the first impacts of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian gas row on Friday evening as three member states in Central and Eastern Europe reported falling gas pressure in their pipelines.

Pipeline pressure is down in the main pipes leading from Ukraine into EU members Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the Czech Republic's energy envoy, Vaclav Bartuska, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The Czech Republic currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"It is so far only a decrease in pressure. The volumes (being delivered) remain the same ... The Ukrainian side told us that volumes will be down tomorrow (Saturday)," Bartuska said.

Prague - Pressure began to drop Friday in pipelines that supply Russian natural gas to the European Union at the bloc's border with Ukraine, a result of Russia's cut in gas delivery to Ukraine that began Thursday, a Czech energy official said.

"It is so far only a decrease in pressure. The volumes remain the same," Czech Republic's energy envoy Vaclav Bartuska told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. He said that the pipeline pressure was down on Ukraine's border with Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a government-owned lignite mining company, has decided to raise Rs 1,750 crore through issue of bonds in order to meet capital expenditure requirement for presently running projects.

The directors of the company at its meeting on December 26, 2008 permitted to raise Rs 500 crore by issuing secured non-convertible taxable bonds and Rs 1,250 crore through debt.

Kiev  - Ukraine's government on Friday upped the ante in its natural gas conflict with Russia, informing the Kremlin's ongoing gas shipments to Europe might well be "confiscated."

The absence of a contract between Russia and Ukraine for gas deliveries and transfers onward to Europe makes any gas shipped by Russia into Ukraine technically "of unknown origin," and so subject to confiscation by the Ukrainian government, wrote Oleh Dubina, chairman of Ukraine's Naftogaz Ukrainy gas trading company.