Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- European Union emission permits rose near their highest in eight days as natural gas advanced because OAO Gazprom said it may cut supplies to Ukraine on Feb. 11.

December-delivery carbon dioxide permits rose 47 cents, or 2.4 percent, to 20.44 euros ($29.63) a metric ton on the European Climate Exchange in London. They were earlier as high as 20.50 euros, having dropped 9 percent so far this year.

Gazprom, based in Moscow, said it may cut gas supplies because it's owed $500 million for deliveries since the beginning of the year, company spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in an e-mailed statement today. It will shut off shipments of Russian gas if there is no settlement with Ukraine, he said.

Gas requires fewer than half as many emission permits as coal. The compulsory EU greenhouse-gas program, regulated by the European Commission, is the world's biggest emissions-trading system. About 80 percent of Russian gas bound for Europe is supplied by pipelines across Ukraine.

U.K. natural gas for delivery in the six months through September rose 3.2 percent to 48.9 pence a therm, according to data from broker Spectron Group Plc on Bloomberg. That's the equivalent of $9.49 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 7, 2008 12:56 EST