* Resolution to Russia-Ukraine gas row seen in sight
* No need for firms to offer technical help after deal
* Russian gas to take 3 days via Ukraine to Czech border
(Adds Wingas)
FRANKFURT, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas
<EONGn.DE> said a settlement of the Russia-Ukraine gas row, seen
later on Monday, would remove the need for west European
companies to fund the gas needed to sustain pressure in the
pipeline system.
"It looks as if Russia and Ukraine have reached a solution
which does not necessitate an involvement of the (west) European
gas companies," a spokesman for the Essen-based company said.
Ruhrgas and French GDF Suez <GSZ.PA> offered last Friday to
be part of a consortium, led by Italy's Eni <ENI.MI>, that would
have provided so-called technical gas for hundreds of kilometres
of pipelines. This gas is needed to maintain pressure and keep
the fuel moving after the crisis left systems empty.
Once the Russian gas flows again, it will take around three
days for it to reach the border point Waidhaus on the
German-Czech border, an important transit point for onward
shipment in western Europe, E.ON said.
A spokesman for BASF unit Wingas <BASF.DE> said once the
routes via Ukraine reopens, it will be supplied again via the
German-Czech border point of Olbernhau in Saxony state.
Wingas depends far less than Ruhrgas on routes through
Ukraine, as it draws more Russian gas via Poland, next door to
eastern Germany which bypasses Ukraine.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko left Kiev for
Moscow on Monday to sign a deal to restore the flows of Russian
gas after striking an outline deal over the weekend with
Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The dispute over gas prices and transit fees has starved 18
central and eastern European countries of gas since early this
month.
The EU gets a quarter of its gas from Russia, and 80 percent
of this is piped through Ukraine.
Germany had been cushioned against disruptions because it
drew on alternative supplier countries and underground gas
reserves.
The Wingas spokesman said his company's 4 billion cubic
metres (bcm) Rehden storage in north Germany, Europe's biggest,
was three quarters full and that Wingas also had access to a
third of the capacity of the 1.2 bcm Haidach storage in Austria.
"Both facilities are reporting normal drawdown rates in line
with the season," he said.
A spokesman for German energy group RWE <RWEG.DE> which had
started supplying Slovakia with gas from Sunday to offset losses
there via the Ukraine route, said these shipments would end once
Ukrainian gas was again received by Slovakia.
E.ON has been sending additional gas volumes to Croatia,
Bosnia, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia since last Wednesday.
(Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff and Vera Eckert, editing by James
Jukwey)
