Brussels, 25/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday 21 January, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said that the Commission is in talks with Russia and Ukraine for another trilateral ministerial meeting on the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine.
“The heating season will end soon. And I believe it is a good idea to hold a trilateral meeting to assess the heating season, to discuss how to prepare for the next period. I believe there are plenty of issues to discuss. At present, we discuss [sic] such an opportunity with both sides - Russia and Ukraine. We are in touch with them”, Sefcovic said, as reported by Russian news agency Prime-Tass. Sefcovic also said that the three parties had not yet agreed on a date.
He believed that Ukraine currently had enough gas in its underground storage for the heating season. “We regularly monitor the volumes of gas in the Ukrainian storages. They seem to be sufficient so far, as was expected at the beginning of the heating season”, he added.
In the midst of a permanent gas dispute, Russia and Ukraine agreed, under EU mediation on 25 September 2015, on a memorandum of understanding that is valid until the end of March 2016 for the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine for winter 2015-16 (see EUROPE 11398). However, Ukraine stopped all purchases from Russia at the end of November and is now being supplied by other European countries.
On 19 January, Russian gas company Gazprom demanded $2.5 billion from Ukraine for the gas that Ukraine had not consumed but was due to, in Gazprom's view, because of the contract between them. This sum now adds to the dispute between Moscow and Kiev over the tens of billions of dollars Gazprom demands for deliveries of Russian gas that have not been paid by Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)
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