Ukraine is ready to share transit risks with Europe

Ukraine could consider the option of purchasing Russian gas if the point of transfer of ownership of gas was moved from the western border to the east, Kyiv said. Gasprom noted that this issue concerns its long -term contracts with European countries and cannot be decided by one Ukraine.

As the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Kistion explained in an interview with Ukrainian Economic Pravda, under such conditions, Kiev could purchase Russian gas. The Deputy Prime Minister also admitted that until 2019, the supplier with such low prices Ukraine will not be able to find. At the same time, he did not hide that the attractive conditions of delivery in themselves are not yet decisive for Ukraine.

“Free cheese happens only in the mousetrap. We can analyze the previous experience when we were binded with attractive conditions, and then solved all our issues, ”the Vedomosti newspaper quoted the answer to the question of a possible return to gas procurement in Russia.

Responding to the comments of the Ukrainian side, the official representative of Gazprom, Sergei Kupriyanov, emphasized that the question of the location of the gas surrender to customers does not apply to the field of relations between Gazprom and Ukraine. “Gazprom’s delivery point for its customers is a matter of relations not with Ukraine, but with our European clients under long -term contracts,” the RIA Novosti news agency Kupriyanov quotes.

The director of the energy direction, the head of the Energy Department of the Institute of Energy and Finance, Alexei Gromov, agreed to comment on the situation for Polit.ru. He emphasized that, indeed, the question of transferring the point of transfer of ownership of gas cannot be resolved solely by Ukraine, and so far it is premature to talk about how likely this step is.

Sudzha gas measuring station on the Russian-Ukrainian border Gazprom.ru

“Indeed, information appeared that Kyiv put forward the demand for Gazprom to transfer the point of calculation for gas to the eastern border of Ukraine from the western border. He motivates this by the fact that in this way Gazprom will take gas - and then Europeans, together with Ukrainians, will control the Ukrainian gas transmission system. However, when making such a decision, it is impossible to be guided by the desires of Ukraine alone - the point of transfer of ownership from Russia to European customers of Gazprom was recorded in the long -term contracts of Gazprom and its customers in the countries of the European Union. And this issue can be resolved only through the corresponding negotiations between Gazprom with its counterparties in Europe - if there is an interest in Gazprom and its European partners. If at least one of the parties does not have such an interest, then there is no need to talk about any changes with the point of transfer of ownership to Russian gas.

At the same time, I believe that this position of Ukraine is risky enough from the point of view of ensuring the energy security of Europe and the clear fulfillment of the requirements under the contracts of Gazprom. It is risky because it is fundamentally important for us that Ukraine purchases gas from the Russian side to fill the underground gas storage facilities on its territory (which is necessary to ensure uninterrupted supply of Russian gas to the territory of European countries in the cold season, the autumn-winter season). We also understand that it is more difficult for Ukraine every year to find funds for the realization of its duties as a transit country. And the new initiative of Ukraine has yet causes more concern than optimistic hopes that this proposal can significantly facilitate the situation with ensuring European gas security in the autumn-winter season.

Gas transportation system of Ukraine Victor Korniyenko

I believe that at the moment this initiative has very little chance of implementation. And it is necessary to see how not only Gazprom, but also European counterparties of the company will react to this proposal.

What does Ukraine expect to get out in this way? I think this proposal has a multi -layer subtext, both economic and political. If we talk about the economic aspect, the benefit of this step can be in one thing: when transferring the point of transfer of ownership of gas from the western to the eastern border of Ukraine, all issues related to the support of the gas transportation system of Ukraine in working, ensuring the reliability of transit through this gas transport system will fall not only on the shoulders of Ukraine, but also on the shoulders of European partners, which are now eliminated from this obligation. In fact, the responsibility for the reliability of gas transit through the territory of Ukraine is now only on the Ukrainian side. I think that from an economic point of view, Kyiv pursues this particular goal - to divide transit risks with European partners.

There is, of course, the political goal is to reduce the influence of Russia in the person of Gazprom on gas supply through the territory of Ukraine. Because now we have the right to demand from Ukraine to ensure the reliability of Russian gas transit to Europe is entitled to demand to purchase Russian gas to fill the Ukrainian gas transmission system and, most importantly, underground gas storage facilities. In the situation, if the point of transfer of ownership of gas will be transferred to the eastern border, all these problems will be automatically transferred to the European consumer. After all, if the terms of contracts are changed and ownership of Russian gas will be transferred on the eastern border of Ukraine, then already on the territory of Ukraine this gas will formally be not Russian. He will submit to the property of those countries that bought it under long -term contracts from Russia.

Thus, Kyiv is trying to divide the financial risks of ensuring the reliability of the energy security of Europe on gas with European partners. Are the European Union ready for this? We must hear their position, ”said Alexei Gromov.