An oil refinery in Plock, Poland, is seen in this undated handout photo. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIJING, Jan. 9 -- Russian pipeline company, Transneft, has admitted shutting off oil supplies that travel through Belarus to central Europe. The pipeline monopoly is blaming Belarus for the ongoing energy dispute, but Minsk denies the charge.

    Meanwhile, the European Union, which relies on Russia for as much as a quarter of its energy needs, is demanding an explanation.

    Russian oil moving through the Druzhba pipeline to Central Europe stopped over the weekend. The 4,000-kilometer-long pipeline is able to ship over a million barrels of oil a day to eastern and central Europe. And countries like Germany, Poland and Hungary are most likely to be affected.

    The EU has said the cuts pose no immediate risk to energy supplies in the bloc. But it's still calling for an explanation.

    Ferran Tarradellas, EU energy commission spokesman, said, "We have contacted the Russian and Belarussian authorities and demand clear and detailed explanation of the cause of this interruption."

    And it seems that both parties may share the blame for this disruption.

    Russia is accusing Belarus of imposing taxes on oil transits. And it's now asking Belarus to ensure Europe continues to receive Russian oil.

    Russia's Transneft President blames Belarus for stealing as much as 80-thousand tons of Russian crude oil from the Druzhba pipeline.

    Minsk denies this charge but it's admitted to taking measures to counter the economic damage arising from a shortage of energy resources.

    Belarus is also furious at new prices it now has to pay for oil it imports from Russia.

    Just last week, it was forced to accept a doubling of last year's price for imports of Russian natural gas.

    Also last week, Russia imposed an export duty of 180 US dollars per ton of oil sold to Belarus.

    In response, Minsk announced it would charge an import duty of 45 US dollars per ton of Russian oil shipped to Europe in pipelines that cross Belarus.

    With both Minsk and Moscow showing no signs of backing down, Europe may have to draw on its reserves in the short term, and look elsewhere for other supplies.

(Source: CCTV.com)