The transit of Russian gas through Ukraine has risen to a 5-year record high
Ukrtransgaz, the operator of the Ukrainian gas transport system, stated that from January to May 2017, Gazprom increased the transit of gas through Ukraine to 38.26 billion cubic meters.
This is the highest recorded volume of transported gas over the past 5 years; it exceeds the average transit volume for January-May during 2013-2016 by almost 9 billion cubic meters. Other Russian gas route volumes remained stable.
Gazprom is able to cover the growth and fluctuations in demand for Russian gas in EU countries primarily thanks to the capacity and flexibility of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
The current contract for transit through the territory of Ukraine is in force until the end of 2019. Chief commercial officer of Naftogaz Group, Yuriy Vitrenko, recently said that after the contract expires, the company plans to significantly reduce tariffs for the transit of natural gas.
To reduce the rates on gas transported through Ukraine, a guaranteed annual volume is required, amounting to about 110 billion cubic meters of gas.