Brussels, 11/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Energy Gunter Oettinger and Russian and Ukrainian energy ministers - Alexander Novak and Yuriy Prodan respectively - have agreed to meet in Berlin on 20 September in order to resolve the gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev, said Oettinger's spokesperson on Thursday 11 September.
Two months after the failure of trilateral talks and the halt to supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine in mid-June, Russians and Ukrainians are to try and come to an agreement on a provisional price for Russian gas supplied to Ukraine, and on a repayment plan for Ukraine's debt to Russian gas company Gazprom.
The halt in supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine and the tension between Europe and Russia over the Ukrainian crisis provoke fears of disruption to EU supplies of Russian gas - half of which transits Ukraine. Meeting Oettinger at the beginning of September, Novak had believed the situation was “highly critical with the approach of the heating season”, and had warned of the risk of the gas provided by Gazprom for Europe being illegally taken by Ukraine for its own needs.
Possible targeting of Poland/Ukraine reverse flows. On Thursday 11 September, the Polish gas group PGNiG confirmed that Russian gas deliveries to Poland have experienced a marked decrease since the start of the week (-20% on 8 September, -24% on 9 September, and -45% on 10 September). According to PGNiG, the reductions in deliveries were recorded at two gas transit posts in Belarus and one in Ukraine. On Thursday, PGNiG indicated that it would pursue its enquiry into the reasons for this reduction, to determine whether the reasons are technical or commercial. PGNiG added that it has not yet received any information from Gazprom on the reasons for the reduction in gas deliveries to Poland.
An internal source at Gazprom, quoted by French news agency AFP, stated on Thursday that the previous day's press release was “still valid” - which affirmed the news of a drop in deliveries as being “incorrect” as the volume delivered to Poland was the same as on previous days (23 million cubic metres).
Questioned by press on Thursday, the Commission preferred to remain cautious in the face of suspicions of a possible retaliatory measure by Russia sanctioning Poland's engagement in the Ukrainian crisis and its reverse flow deliveries of gas to Ukraine. “We have been informed by the Polish authorities that there is a reduction in gas flows coming from Russia, and that they will look into the reasons for this and whether they are of a commercial or technical nature. We will see what the Polish authorities tell us before taking a decision. If it's a technical problem, it's not worth discussing at the trilateral meeting. If it's a commercial problem, we will take it into account at the trilateral meeting on 20 September”, said Oettinger's spokesperson (our translation).
In June, Gazprom had threatened to reduce its deliveries to European companies that supply reverse flow gas to Ukraine to compensate for the cessation of Russian supplies. Since the halt to Russian deliveries on 16 June, Ukraine has turned to Europe in order to receive some of the Russian gas imported by European countries (Poland, Hungary and Slovakia). EH