Speaking on the fringes of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Energy Union Commissioner and vice-president of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič said on Thursday 19 January: ‘I don’t expect any problems with supplies of gas through Ukraine to Europe. We are in frequent contact with both parties to check the situation and to make sure the winter goes smoothly.’.
‘So far the date of the new negotiations is not set, but we are on the phone quite frequently with Alexander Novak (Russia’s Energy Minister, Ed.). We will see what will be the situation because we are in close contact with both parties, and we will be monitoring the gas transit,’ Sefcovic said.
‘I think we got guarantees, I would say, by assurances in the meetings we had together, where Russia clearly stated that they want to perform as a reliable supplier and the Ukrainian side responded that they want to guarantee reliable uninterrupted transit. We got written assurances as well, we got a letter from Minister Novak highlighting this fact,’ he added.
Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission (on behalf of the EU) agreed at a trilateral meeting on 9 December 2016 to continue talks over the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine this winter and securing the transit through Ukraine of Russian gas purchased by the EU. Russia is considering selling Ukraine between 1.5 and 4 billion cubic metres of gas (see EUROPE 11687).
Šefčovič said the agreement being sought between Russia and Ukraine ‘is a legal question, which is to be agreed especially between two companies, because it is now regulated by a commercial contract, and of course, by endorsement at a political level, by the Ministers of Energy of Russia and Ukraine (…) We are trying to find different ways for this legal problem to be resolved.’
The managing director of Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolev, said on Thursday that Ukraine’s gas company was prepared to buy Russian gas if an additional agreement is signed, adding to the main contract, one of the clauses of the desired extra agreement being that Naftogaz would only pay in advance for the amount of gas it needed, explains Russian press agency Itar Tass.
Novak said that the transport of gas would strictly abide by the contract and the parties would only discuss volumes or delivery deadlines, and not changes to the contract or the signing of an additional agreement. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)