SOFIA, Jan. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Bulgaria's gas importer Bulgargaz said on Monday it was considering imposing restrictions on the use of the fuel after Russia's cutoff of natural gas supplies to Ukraine.

    "The gas supply to Bulgaria is normal for the moment. But we have to consider that during the holidays industrial consumers have not been working," Dimitar Gogov, director of Bulgargaz's economic department, told national radio.

    "If necessary, we could impose restrictions on gas supplies which would be applied last to consumers who do not have any other alternative fuel than natural gas," Gogov said.

    He noted Bulgaria had three months of stocks for domestic use in case of a serious fuel shortage.

    Bulgaria receives around 97 percent of its natural gas from Russia via Ukraine.

    Russian gas giant Gazprom cut down natural gas supplies to Ukraine on Sunday after Kiev rejected Russia's demand to more than quadruple the price.

    Many European countries including Austria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, which rely heavily on Russian gas from the pipelines that cross Ukraine, have reported a sharp drop in their supplies. Enditem