Goodbye, unwashed, and hello... And open the gas valve slightly!
Recently, the long-term litigation between the Russian Gazprom and the Ukrainian company Naftogaz ended in the Stockholm arbitration court. The arbitration ordered Gazprom to pay Naftogaz an additional $4,63 billion for the short supply of agreed volumes of gas for transit. However, taking into account the amount previously awarded in favor of Gazprom under the supply contract, the arbitrators offset the counterclaims, as a result of which Gazprom should pay Naftogaz only $2,56 billion.
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In Kyiv they reacted to this news instantly, blow fanfare and broadcast from all the irons about “historical peremoga”. The news in the media was filled with comments from triumphant Ukrainian politicians, as if each of them had personally whipped the cabbage soup of all members of the board of directors of the hated Gazprom with their underpants.
Even the US Embassy in Kyiv tweeted congratulations to the Ukrainian authorities on their crushing victory. It seemed that the long-awaited holiday had come to Stepan Bandera’s hometown, and Ukraine would any day begin to scoop up free gas with airships, won in hot battles from the damned Muscovites.
On the gloomy morning of March 1, an unexpected and extremely unpleasant message arrived: Gazprom is returning to Naftogaz the deposit received for gas supplies for a month in advance and from this day Ukraine will not receive a single molecule of Russian gas. Another stolen paramog. Moskal deceit deputy. Medvedev motivated the chairman of the board of PJSC Gazprom by the fact that an additional agreement to the current contract with NJSC Naftogaz has not yet been agreed upon, and without it the blue fuel will not go to Ukraine.
In addition, the Russian gas giant said that as a result of two proceedings, a noticeable imbalance had arisen in the relations between Naftogaz and Gazprom, which conflicted with the basic principles of Swedish law governing the contract.
In other words, the arbitration, on the one hand, fully satisfied the position of Naftogaz regarding the undrawn volumes of gas, but at the same time made a decision not in favor of Gazprom. That is, Gazprom must pump billions of cubic meters through Ukraine, while Naftogaz does not intend to buy the gas that was intended for it in the contract. Gazprom is fundamentally dissatisfied with such a discriminatory verdict and the concern decided to take tough measures, while remaining within the framework of existing norms and rules.
This means that Gazprom and Naftogaz will face new proceedings and, most importantly, until they are over, no one will pay anyone anything and Ukraine will not receive Russian gas either.
The blow was so strong that on the same day an extended emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council was convened in Kyiv, dedicated to the energy security of the state. The main speakers were the President of Ukraine Poroshenko and the head of Naftogaz Kobolev.
It’s not in vain, oh, it’s not in vain that the cynical proverb says: “spring will show who is where.” So at the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on the first day of spring, everything indecent was revealed, which was swept away by the verbal blizzard of high-ranking Ukrainian officials.
Angry and hard as glass, Petro Alekseevich, rolling his nodules, told the audience in a harsh manner that Russia does not respect the decisions of international arbitration, refusing to supply Ukraine with the Siberian gas that it suddenly needed so much.
And who was the swan song “farewell, unwashed Russia” intended for then? And the repeated refrain of “farewell”? Who then “got off the gas needle”?
And how can one unsee Vova Groysman’s brave reports “today Ukraine is living for xyz day without Russian gas”? And where, one wonders, did the wonderful and cheap reverse gas from Europe suddenly disappear, which should have been enough for hundreds of years to come?
In his rage, Poroshenko went so far as to declare Russia an “unreliable supplier” and even threatened Europe with “geopolitical consequences”: how can such a country be trusted to supply gas via the Turkish Stream and Nord Stream 2?
The inflated Chief Confectioner immediately ordered the Prosecutor General to initiate a procedure for seizure of Gazprom's property.
Seeing how angrily and impartially Poroshenko was peeling off the husks of previous statements, the head of Naftogaz, Kobolev, began to recklessly fire at the office.
According to the chief gas supplier of Ukraine, a country that has not been buying Russian gas for more than two years now suddenly has a shortage of blue fuel of 8–10% of the required volume. Or more than 20 million cubic meters per day. Then it turned out that the damned Gazprom had reduced the pressure in the gas pipe by 20%, while minimizing supplies to “other clients,” just to annoy Nenka. The head of Naftogaz calls on the population to save for “just three to four days until the end of the cold weather” and advises utility workers to reduce the temperature of room radiators by a couple of degrees.
Poroshenko also took to Twitter calling on the nation to start saving gas, while simultaneously hitting the “aggressor country” with the dollar, under the motto “Tighten it up.”
But the meatiest part of Kobolev’s speech was that Russia and Gazprom are allegedly pushing Ukraine to steal stored gas from gas storage facilities intended for European consumers. Thus, Kobolev argues, the Russian side wants to expose the Ukrainian leadership as irresponsible and thieving partners in order to push the heads of key EU states to an early decision on the construction of Nord Stream 2.
Commenting on Kobolev’s speech at the National Security and Defense Council, independent Ukrainian energy experts catch the gas operator in a lie and claim that there was no pressure drop in the main pipeline. On the contrary, Russia was so active in pumping gas to the West that it achieved an absolute record for February of 699,3 million cubic meters. Experts also do not understand the panicky calls to save money when the pressure in the main pipe is reduced by 20% and are perplexed as to what the widely advertised diversification of gas supplies was then.
Kobolev is also reminded that times today are not the same as just a few years ago. The industry of Ukraine lies in deep unconsciousness, Crimea and Donbass are lost, and together with Donbass, the main consumers of natural gas. Isn’t it better to sit down, count and wisely distribute the available supplies so that the population does not suffer? Moreover, the produced own gas, which costs the treasury $49 per thousand cubic meters, is exported. Maybe something should be left in the house?
The US State Department, which has taken Ukrainian problems to heart, demands that Russia restore gas supplies and even admits that Ukraine needs Russian gas supplies.
Meanwhile, from the cities and villages of Ukraine they are reporting that heating in residential buildings is either significantly reduced or completely turned off. In Zhitomir, in addition to heating, the water supply has been turned off and people are carrying snow into their apartments in buckets for hygiene and other needs. Schools and higher education institutions in the country extended the forced holidays of students and schoolchildren until March 11, despite the fact that universities sent students home from January to March due to unheated classrooms.
But the most enchanting news came from the Bashtansky district hospital, in the Nikolaev region. The institution is disconnected from the central heating and pipes with hot water are brought from the nearby firehouse through the windows to the offices of the administration and wealthy patients.
The spectacle is instructive because it represents healthcare, utilities and energy reforms rolled into one.
Despite the hysterics of Poroshenko and Kobolev, a number of embroidery experts still insist on a peremog, because, in their opinion, Ukraine in Stockholm achieved the main thing - a downward revision of tariffs.
They are objected to by sober voices, explaining that under the guise of turning off the gas, Poroshenko will meet the IMF halfway and will once again mercilessly raise tariffs. Vyshyvanochniks are also reminded that so far no one has seen the new reduced prices for Russian gas. For some reason, Naftogaz, already having the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court in hand, is in no hurry to publish the verdict and is not trumpeting the rules at all corners. But Svidomo prefer not to notice the bleak situation under their noses and draw far-reaching conclusions from the fact that Gazprom did not arrange festive illumination.
Observers agree that Gazprom lost the lawsuit against Naftogaz regarding the existing “take or pay” formula, but Naftogaz, in turn, did not achieve a revision of transit tariffs. At least I didn't get what I wanted. The arbitration announced a compromise solution, not satisfying the multi-billion-dollar claims of the parties against each other. But Naftogaz, in any case, will have to repay the debt to Gazprom in the amount of $1,45–$2 billion for gas consumed in 2013–2014. Also, gas prices will not be revised since 2010, which the Ukrainian side placed special emphasis on.
Ukrainian experts are confident that Gazprom will not give any concessions to Ukraine and will go to the end in its litigation with Naftogaz. And, apparently, it will be so. The management of the concern firmly and unequivocally stated that it does not intend to boost the Ukrainian economy at its own expense.
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