On Tuesday 7 March, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič said the Commission believed the situation with gas reserves in underground storage facilities in Ukraine was under control, but it would continue to monitor the situation. Šefčovič also gave assurances of his readiness to take part in any new meeting with Russia and Ukraine.
"The European Commission believes the situation is under control, but it has agreed to remain in touch and be prepared to find a solution if there are any signs of the situation deteriorating", Šefčovič said, after a meeting with Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston.
"Compared to last winter [2015-2016], a positive factor is that Ukraine has financial resources to buy gas, including from the EBRD, but the European Commission will monitor the situation so that there are no problems with transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe", Šefčovič assured, according to reports from Russian news agency Interfax.
Novak said that Russia continued to be concerned about the low level of gas reserves in underground storage facilities in Ukraine, despite the upcoming end to the heating season.
This winter, Russian gas company Gazprom has on several occasions accused Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz of not pumping enough gas into its reserves in order to respond to demand until the end of winter, jeopardising transit to Europe. Naftogaz, meanwhile, has accused Gazprom of breaching their transit contract by not ensuring the necessary gas pressure (see EUROPE 11735).
Against this backdrop, the date for a new meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission "has not been set, as Russia and Ukraine have not yet expressed a desire to hold talks", Šefčovič said, giving assurances that "the European Commission is ready to organise a meeting at any time".
Having just failed to reach an agreement, Russia, Ukraine and the Commission agreed at their trilateral meeting on 9 December 2016 to continue their talks to secure supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine and the transit through Ukraine of Russian gas purchased by the EU (see EUROPE 1187).
Gazprom and Naftogaz are prey to a recurring dispute with the aggregated claims of both parties exceeding $70 billion, as regards prices, supply obligations and transit conditions in the 2009 contract. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)