Ukraine's Naftogaz to offer Gazprom a new transit agreement for ten years
During the press conference of the Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz, the executive director of the Ukrainian company, Yuriy Vitrenko, announced that in the upcoming negotiations Naftogaz plans to offer Gazprom to book 60 billion cubic meters of transit capacity of the Ukraine gas transmission system for a period of ten years. This press service was broadcast on the official Naftogaz account on Facebook.
He noted that the company would provide a capacity of 90 billion cubic meters per year. Based on this, 30 billion cubic meters will remain free capacity available for other companies’ bookings.
According to Vitrenko, the proposal submitted to the negotiations in regard to Gazprom will be flexible and will accommodate the possibility for the Russian company to use less or more capacity for the year. The top manager stressed that on average it should be around 60 billion cubic meters.
The head of Naftogaz believes that the new transit agreement should not be signed directly with the company but instead through the new operator of the gas transmission system of Ukraine. According to Vitrenko, Brussels agreed that Kyiv’s proposals will already include European tariffs for gas transit.
Negotiations with Gazprom are tentatively scheduled for the end of May, but the specific date has not been approved yet.
The current contract for Russian gas transit through Ukraine, which was signed in 2009, will expire at the end of December. Whether the Russian side will renew the contract remains an open question. According to Kyiv, the transit termination will not only entail losses for the Ukrainian budget but will also deal a powerful blow to Europe’s energy security.