European Union (EU) energy experts urged European producers on Friday to hike production as Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine remained cut-off.

"The extent of the current gas crisis is unprecedented in European history," energy experts from the 27 EU member states said in a statement after a meeting with industry representatives under the framework of the EU's gas coordination group on Friday in Brussels.

They discussed the impact of the current gas crisis and evaluated each country's situation.

As a short-term measure, EU energy experts called for the increase of production in Norway, the Netherlands, Britain, Romania and Poland to compensate the loss of Russian gas, to the maximum capacity of production and transport means.

"For example, the Netherlands said (it) could increase its production by 10 percent during two weeks," they said.

Another proposal is to increase the withdrawal from gas storage to the maximum capacity, which many EU countries had already been forced to do.

Some most affected EU countries have also implemented fuel switching, replacing gas with other energy sources, while Bulgaria and Slovakia introduced limitation of gas consumption for industry and Hungary temporarily limited gas supplies to large consumers.

EU energy experts said the current crisis showed the need for the quick implementation of mid-long term measures, such as to improve interconnectivity between member states, diversify energy sources and increase investment in storage.

Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine remained cut-off on Friday as Russia and Ukraine were still wrangling over a gas monitoring mission.

All Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine were shut down on Wednesday as a gas row between Russia and Ukraine escalated, causing a supply crisis for a number of EU countries.

At least 15 European nations, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, had reported a halt in Russian gas shipments by Wednesday.

Caught up in the gas row and hit by freezing weather, several EU countries were faced with a serious gas crisis, with factories shut down, schools closed and thousands of people left without gas for heating.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2009)