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Budapest, January 7 (Interfax Central Europe) - Hungary has imposed restrictions on natural gas consumption by large industrial, agricultural and commercial consumers, following a complete halt of Russian gas imports via Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon, Hungary's gas pipeline operator Foldgazszallito said in a Wednesday morning statement.

Hungary limits industrial gas consumption Wednesday morning as imports via Ukraine stop

"To increase supply security, especially the supply security of protected consumers (residential and public users), Foldgazszallito ordered as of 8:00 CET a second round of consumption restrictions [involving consumers using 500-2,500 cubic meters of gas per hour]," Foldgazszallito said.

Industrial, agricultural and commercial gas consumers using more than 2,500 cbm of gas per hour were already ordered to limit their consumption at 20:30 CET Tuesday evening, according to a late Tuesday statement by Foldgazszallito.

The restrictions follow the complete halt of Russian gas imports to Hungary via Ukraine as of 15:30 CET Tuesday, in turn the result of unsuccessful negotiations between Russia's Gazprom and its Ukrainian partners to settle gas price and transit terms for 2009. Gazprom already started cutting deliveries to Ukraine on January 1. Prior to the cut, Hungary imported more than 30 mln cbm of gas per day via Ukraine in the first days of January.

Foldgazszallito said that Hungary's gas consumption totaled 68 mln cbm on Tuesday, while taking into account the restrictions on the largest consumers imposed Tuesday evening, consumption is expected to reach 64 mln cbm on Wednesday.

Foldgazszallito noted that total gas sources available in the pipeline system Wednesday - 52 mln cbm from underground storage, 9 mln cbm from domestic production, and 3 mln cbm from a smaller import pipeline via Austria - are just sufficient to meet expected demand, prompting the company to enact the second-round limitation on industrial users.

The company stressed that it is prepared to carry out further restrictions on consumption if necessary. According to rules applied by Foldgazszallito and the Hungarian Energy Office, a third round of restrictions would involve all remaining industrial, agricultural and commercial gas users. A fourth round of restrictions would involve all but a few public consumers, while residential gas users and a few selected public users would only be restricted as a last resort.