UK Halts Gas Supplies to Europe Due to Equipment Failure: Report

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom has suspended gas deliveries to Europe via one of the key pipelines, Interconnector, due to equipment failure, possibly until March 8, American financial media reported on Sunday, citing the operator.

The pipeline, which supplies mainland Europe with gas via Belgium, has become an increasingly important energy source after "severe cuts" in exports from Russia, the report said.

At the same time, the newspaper reported that gas deliveries from the UK had slowed down even before the problems with equipment, since the country's domestic market needed more fuel due to a cold snap.

However, the suspension of gas supplies through the Interconnector pipeline is unlikely to have a somewhat significant impact on the energy situation in Europe, since European natural gas storage is more than 60% full as of March 1, its highest seasonal level on record, data published by the association of European gas infrastructure operators showed on Saturday.