Speaking at a meeting of the European Parliament, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said that the European Union (EU) is not interested in extending the contract for the transit of Russian gas through the Ukrainian gas transport system (GTS). In this respect reported Reuters agency.
The European Commissioner said, “We are not interested in extending the tripartite gas transit agreement with Russia, which will expire at the end of this year.”
Simson reported his meeting with Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko the day before. The negotiations took place within the framework of the International Energy Agency (IEA) ministerial meeting in Paris.
According to him, the EU has been preparing for the termination of this contract for two years “since the manipulations in the gas market began.” The European Commissioner announced that alternative options are available to ensure supply diversification and filling of gas storage facilities, without specifying what these options are.
Gas will go to China
On January 31, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak confirmed that the Russian state energy company Gazprom was not negotiating either the supply of gas to Europe via Ukraine or its sale at the border of this country. Novak spoke Active negotiations with China on a gas supply contract through the Power of Siberia-2.
Bloomberg also cited its own sources and wrote that Brussels no longer has any objections to Kiev’s plans to halt transit.
The agreement in question was signed for a five-year period in 2019 between Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state company for the production, transportation and processing of oil and natural gas, and Gazprom. It enables the passage of 225 billion cubic meters. m gas for the entire term of the contract. It expires at the end of 2024. The cost of the materials has not been officially disclosed. Profit from transit in Kiev is estimated at $15 billion over five years.
After the collapse of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, the only way to supply Russian gas to the countries of Western and Central Europe is gas transit through Ukraine. Starting from May 2022, the volume of deliveries to Europe via the Ukrainian route has decreased. Then the Ukrainian company GTS Operator announced the termination of transit through the Sokhranovka station due to the company not having the ability to control the Novopskov compressor station on the LPR. Gazprom did not see any reason to stop pumping as before.
gas reserves
The Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators of Europe (Gas Infrastructure Europe, GIE) announced on February 14 the volume of gas reserves in European underground storage facilities. The total fuel volume is 73.7 billion cubic meters.
Storage facilities are 67.87% full, a record high for mid-February. Since the beginning of the season for withdrawing gas from reservoirs (that is, from the first ten days of November), reserves have decreased by a little more than a third. The current level is 15.3 percentage points above the average of the last five years.
On February 7, Gazprom reported that the volume of pipeline gas supplies from Russia to Europe increased by 41% year on year to 2.52 billion cubic meters in January. m The transit from the territory of Ukraine to EU countries and Moldova during the month amounted to 1.29 billion cubic meters. m.This is 32% higher than last year.
Gazprom sends gas to Slovakia, Austria and Italy via Ukraine. Macedonia, Croatia, Hungary, Greece, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina receive Russian gas via Turkish Stream. While Gazprom provided 7.5% of total gas imports to the EU in the first quarter of 2023 (January – March), this share became 28% (approximately 260 million cubic meters per day) in the first quarter of 2022.