(ANSA-AFP) - ROME-VIENNA, JUN 16 - Italian energy giant Eni said it will receive only 65 percent of the gas requested Thursday from Gazprom, due to problems at the Russian company's Portovaya compression station. Eni said it had asked for 44 percent more gas than on Wednesday, when the supply was cut by 15 percent -- and "Gazprom announced that only 65 percent of the requested volumes will be delivered", a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Austria's OMV energy company said on Thursday that it too would also receive less Russian gas as Moscow steps up the energy pressure on Europe. Russia on Wednesday slashed gas supplies to the continent for the second day in a row, in a move blasted as "political" by Germany. "We can confirm that we have been informed by (Russia's) Gazprom about reduced delivery volumes," said OMV in a statement emailed to AFP. The company said supply to its customers was "ensured at the moment". "If necessary at all, since there is currently a significantly lower demand, these volumes can be replaced by storage volumes and volumes from the spot market," it said. OMV gave no further details on how much less gas it would receive and from when.

(ANSA-AFP).