Brussels, 04/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - The aid package pledged to Ukraine includes financial support to settle its debt of $2 billion to Gazprom, Commissioner Oettinger has announced.
The payment of gas invoices owed by Ukraine comes high up in the Commission's aid programme to be adopted on 5 March, said Commissioner Günther Oettinger, following the meeting of the European energy ministers in Brussels on Tuesday 4 March. “I continue to insist that the question of Ukraine and gas should be included in our aid package. Obviously, the loans granted by the EU, the EIB and the World Bank have to be guaranteed. I am arguing for the invoices which have still not been paid to be settled in order to prevent Ukraine from sinking into chaos”, the commissioner explained. The Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz “owes nearly $2 billion to Gazprom, and we are going to help it to pay its bill”, he added. The Commission's aid (see other article) will be added to by contributions from other countries, Oettinger added, referring to a loan guarantee of one billion dollars pledged on Tuesday by the United States for the energy sector of Ukraine. “We anticipate a package which could involve an IMF envelope. Some member states will top up this action. We could achieve genuine financial stability and set in place the framework necessary for investments in the country”, he added.
EU has healthy gas stocks. Oettinger went on to say that he was confident that the EU had the capacity to provide Ukraine with gas, from reverse flows in the European gas pipeline system. “We can help Ukraine so that it only needs the bare minimum of Russian gas”, he explained, referring to the possibility of using reverse flows to allow Ukraine to obtain gas from Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The EU would be capable of providing this out of the strategic stocks it has been building up since 2013. On Tuesday, the Energy Council discussed the threat to both Ukraine and the EU that the Russian gas tap would be turned off. Although he was confident about Gazprom's obligation to observe its supply contracts to European energy companies, Oettinger also stressed that the EU by no means lacks alternative options. “We have discussed the possibility of turning to other suppliers, Norway, Algeria, Libya, or using the option of LNG, even though it is more expensive. And thanks to the regulation on the security of gas supply, we have built up our storage capacity. This winter has been a relatively mild one. We have been in a net storage position since May 2013, and there is therefore no risk. Half of our reserves would last us until Easter”, Oettinger added. (EH)