Brussels, 03/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting chaired by the EU in Brussels on Monday 2 March, Russia and Ukraine reached agreement on continuing the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine until the end of March, the date on which the “winter package” agreed at the end of October 2014 is due to expire. Supplies of Russian gas for the EU which pass through Ukraine have thus been secured for the coming weeks.
“I am satisfied that we managed to safeguard the full application of the winter package for the supply needs in Ukraine. We also agreed to take up trilateral negotiations on the follow-up to the Winter Package. I am reassured that the supply of gas to the EU markets remains secure”, said European Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic following the meeting with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Demchyshyn on Monday evening.
According to a statement from Sefcovic outlining what had been achieved at the meeting, the parties confirmed their intention to fully implement the winter package, fully complying with their obligations: Ukrainian operator Naftogaz will pre-pay and order from Gazprom sufficient quantities of gas to cover all domestic consumption by Ukraine in March, and will continue to guarantee an undisrupted transit of gas to the EU; Gazprom will deliver up to 114 million cubic metres per day of pre-paid and ordered gas quantities to mutually agreed delivery points.
The parties acknowledged that the issue of supplies to certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine is “highly complex in legal, technical and political terms” and they agreed to further discuss this matter.
The parties also stated their willingness to continue their trilateral talks in order to agree on the follow up to the gas winter package, as called for in the Declaration of Minsk of 12 February 2015. The European Commission has called on the parties to submit their proposals for possible agenda points for the next trilateral meeting, which it hopes to convene before the end of the month.
The Commission launched this fresh round of mediation on gas supply between Russia and Ukraine after a squabble between Moscow and Kiev over implementation of the winter package. Gazprom decided in mid-February to begin directly supplying those areas under separatist control in the east of Ukraine, arguing that the Ukrainian government had stopped deliveries, and deducting these supplies from what had been pre-paid by Kiev. Naftogaz accused Gazprom of breaching the memorandum of understanding agreed in October by not supplying Ukraine with the appropriate amount of pre-paid gas. (Emmanuel Hagry)