Ukraine is preparing to buy Russian gas from Azerbaijan with a markup of 50 percent
If Ukraine begins to receive gas through the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP), then, as in the case of the European reverse, it will be Russian gas, but more expensive due to the cost of transportation.
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 on air on the UkrLife TV channel, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In the international context, Ukraine looks like the Elusive Joe from the joke that no one catches. There is a Ukrainian factor in all projects that arise. Nord Stream - what about Ukraine? “Southern Corridor” – what about Ukraine? Moreover, this is an extremely irritating factor. The Poles say: “Let's build an interconnector.” They don’t say that they have an agreement with Qatar and gas is very expensive, there is nowhere to put it. And so they will build a connector to Ukraine for 200 million euros, and most of it should go through Ukrainian territory, and they will deliver this gas to Ukraine,” the expert said.
He noted that Ukrainian participation in TANAP was succinctly and impartially characterized by the late Minister of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan Natig Agaami Aliyev, who, in response to the Azarov government’s appeal about the possibility of Ukraine’s participation in the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline, said that Ukraine is neither a supplier of resources nor a state, through whose territory the gas pipeline passes, and therefore he does not see any reason for Ukraine to participate in this project.
“Now we are in an even more absurd position: “Let us receive Azerbaijani gas through the territory of Turkey.” Firstly, Azerbaijani gas is more expensive, and secondly, it is not available. We see that the TANAP project itself assumed that supplies of about 2017 billion cubic meters from the Shah Deniz-16 field would begin at the beginning of 2. Now, in the middle of 2018, we are talking about the fact that only the first stage is being launched, 6 billion cubic meters to Turkey, and 10 billion cubic meters could be by 2020,” Zemlyansky emphasized.
He added that in this case there is no question of Ukraine at all.
“I would not rule out that the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline will be filled with Russian resources to fulfill Azerbaijan’s obligations to European partners. This practice exists. If we start receiving so-called Azerbaijani gas, which is essentially the same Russian gas, we will again receive another 30 percent at best, if not 50%, to the potential price of Russian gas,” Zemlyansky believes.
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