The EU is throwing Ukraine to the mercy of Gazprom
Although Ukraine hoped that the involvement of a European partner in the consortium to manage the gas transportation system after the end of the current transit contract would help ensure guaranteed transit volumes, these hopes were not realized, as were the hopes that such a partner would take over the modernization of the entire gas transportation system.
Valentin Zemlyansky, director of energy programs at the Center for World Economy and International Relations of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“You need to clearly understand that the consortium will consider as its main asset the route that will be the main one for the supply of Russian gas to the EU. The rest of the GTS will not be of interest to them. Accordingly, all projects to modernize this area will most likely be financed by European financial institutions. Western partners will also carry out work and supply materials. These, again, are additional financial resources that the EU receives in the event of the implementation of Nord Stream 2 and entry into the management of the Ukrainian gas transportation system,” the expert noted.
According to him, if you look at the internal Ukrainian disputes that are currently taking place between the Cabinet of Ministers and NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, between NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine and Ukrtransgaz, between NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine and distribution companies, you can see that everything supporters of attracting a company that could guarantee the preservation and increase of transit through the Ukrainian gas transportation system after 2020 somehow magically found themselves out of work, which primarily concerns Ukrtransgaz.
“The policy continues that you just need to attract a company that can financially participate in this with technology and other things. In fact, Kyiv will soon find itself alone with Moscow in negotiations on transit, on the volume of gas that will be transited along the Ukrainian corridor after the completion of the contract on January 1, 2020. The participation of a third party, European partners, in such negotiations, the guarantees that it could provide, would be more beneficial to Ukraine than an attempt to independently solve this problem,” Zemlyansky is convinced.
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