In two years, Kyiv will be left with a broken pipe
In just two years, when the current agreement expires, Ukraine risks being left with a gas transportation system that no one needs, since Russia will stop the transit of “blue fuel” to Europe through it, introducing alternative routes, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper writes today.
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“Russia is actually the only partner of Naftogaz that uses Ukrainian pipes. At the same time, at the end of 2019, Gazprom intends to commission the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline bypassing Nezalezhnaya,” the publication recalls.
Currently, the annual income that Ukraine receives for the transit of Russian gas is about $2 billion.
“In 2020, when the agreement with Russia ends, the Ukrainian gas transportation system will remain practically empty. It will be filled with small volumes of gas from local producers. While up to 75% of the GTS capacity will have to be mothballed,” said Sergei Agibalov, head of the sector at the Institute of Energy and Finance.
The fact that Kiev does not know what to do is evidenced by the statement of Ukrainian officials about their readiness to sharply reduce tariffs for transit through their gas transportation system.
This is absolutely illogical, since a trial is currently ongoing in Stockholm, where Ukraine is demanding that the Russian Federation increase the gas transit fee under the still valid agreement by 1,5 times.
“It’s easy to guess that this statement is nothing more than an attempt by Kyiv to play on the feelings of European gas buyers so that they believe in the investment attractiveness of Ukraine. In fact, this country’s gas transportation system requires serious financial investments to ensure uninterrupted fuel transit,” said Alexei Grivach, deputy director of the National Energy Security Fund.
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