On Tuesday 28 February, the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz warned of the threat to the transit of Russian gas through its territory as a result of a record drop in pressure in the Russian gas transport system (GTS) at the point of entry from Russia into the Ukrainian GTS at the Sudzha station, accusing the Russian gas company Gazprom of breaching the terms of their transit contract.
This new “significant drop” in pressure in the Russian GTS at Sudzha and Gazprom's “systematic violations of the transport contract are jeopardising the stability of gas supplies to the European market”, Naftogaz warned (our translation).
Gazprom immediately refuted any risk of disturbances to its supplies to Europe transiting via Ukraine, claiming that the risk of an interruption to supply actually lies with the low gas reserves in the underground storage facilities in Ukraine.
Gazprom has accused Naftogaz several times this winter of failing to pump enough gas into its storage facilities to meet demand through until the end of the winter, putting transit to Europe at risk.
Russia, Ukraine and the Commission agreed, at a trilateral meeting on 9 December 2016, to continue talks to secure supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine and the transit via Ukraine of Russian gas purchased by the EU (see EUROPE 11687).
Gazprom and Naftogaz are embroiled in an ongoing dispute, with claims from both sides adding up to more than $70 billion over prices, supply obligations and transit terms from the 2009 contract. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)