Ukrainian Gas System Sentenced: Reduction of Gas Transit through Ukraine

Gazprom cut the transit of gas through Ukraine to Europe by 25% compared to the beginning of the month.

“If we compare the first and 22nd January this year, the volume of transit of Russian gas through the Ukrainian gas transportation system reduced from 238.7 to 180 million cubic meters per day,” said the adviser to the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, Maxim Belyavsky.

According to the Ukrainian politician, this is due to the fact that the Russian company uses gas which was accumulated in the summer in European storage facilities, and also sends it through the Nord Stream. He also noted that the reduction in raw material consumption in European countries is associated with relatively warm weather.

Director of the Center for Geopolitical Studies of the Institute for Innovative Development, Dmitry Rodionov, recalled that the Ukrainian ministry only confirmed what was previously voiced by Gazprom.

In Ukraine, Naftogaz are coming to understand that Moscow's plans to abandon Ukrainian transit after 2020 are an impending reality, and that the Western allies of the Kiev authorities cannot help them in any way. Naftogaz representatives were once heard to say that it's pointless to rely on "conscious circles in the EU and the US," as a number of influential companies from Germany, France, Austria and Holland are interested in the implementation of Nord Stream-2.

According to Rodionov, the Ukrainian authorities, are still trying to mitigate the consequences of the fact that they will be left without transit. They say they offered Gazprom a significant reduction in the cost of transit.

“But they don’t understand that there is no discount that can compensate for the political risks that threaten to result in huge financial losses. Gazprom needs to deliver gas to Europe, and Europeans - to receive it without overlap. Politics fades into the background, despite attempts by Washington and Brussels to mix it up - they will accuse Moscow of infringing on the rights of Kiev, and they will try to pull on the NP-2 norms of European legislation that are not applicable to it,” Rodionov said.

Dimitri Dolaberidze