Ukraine switched to Russian gas again
Since September, Ukraine has switched to importing gas only through a virtual reverse — essentially taking gas for itself from the Russian transit flow to Europe.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, Kommersant writes.
“For example, according to data from the Ukrainian gas transportation system operator, on September 9, at the main entry points from Russia to the Ukrainian transit system, 152 million cubic meters of gas physically entered, but only 83 million cubic meters came out,” the article notes.
This became possible after the conclusion of a new five-year contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz last year. Whereas the previous contract provided that transit gas on the western border of Ukraine would be transferred to Gazprom Export, and after that it would go to Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania.
“Thus, Ukraine was forced to resort to physical reverse, when transit Russian gas crossed the border of Ukraine with neighboring states, changed ownership, and then returned back to Ukraine. Now this restriction has been lifted, and Kyiv is actively organizing a virtual reverse with neighboring countries,” the publication points out.
In addition, the newspaper writes that the virtual reverse “reduces Ukraine’s costs for importing gas from Europe and actually makes it unnecessary to conclude a direct contract with Gazprom.”
According to Sergei Kapitonov, a gas analyst at the Skolkovo energy center, the new scheme could potentially lead to savings of 10–20 dollars per thousand cubic meters for Ukraine. He adds that the virtual reverse scheme includes compensation mechanisms, so the final savings may be lower, but with gas import volumes of 15 billion cubic meters per year, “this is still tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars in savings.”
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