On Wednesday 20 September, the Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for the Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič, urged Ukraine to speed up the process of unbundling its public gas company Naftogaz in order to maintain the transit of Russian gas destined for the EU via Ukraine.
At a press conference following the informal meeting of EU energy ministers in Tallinn on Wednesday, Šefčovič stressed the need to speed up the unbundling of Naftogaz to create a special company for the transit of gas from Russia to Europe.
“Respectable European businesses are prepared to work in close cooperation with Ukrainian companies (Naftogaz and Ukrtransgaz: Ed) on a number of gas transport mechanisms in order to guarantee the transit of gas after 2019 and provide guarantees on transparency and the respect of European standards”, the Commission Vice-President added.
In April of this year, Naftogaz and Ukrtransgaz and the energy companies Snam of Italy and Eustream of Slovakia signed a memorandum of understanding with a view to jointly assessing the possibilities of working together in operating and improving the gas transport system (GTS) in Ukraine. Other businesses are also interested in coming on board, Šefčovič hinted.
The Commission is weighing up the reform of the Ukrainian gas sector and the unbundling of Naftogaz ahead of new negotiations on gas between Ukraine and Russia, in which it acts as mediator, in order to secure the transit of Russian gas to the EU via Ukraine after 2019.
This question is also important ahead of the negotiations it is planning with Russia on a regulatory framework for the operation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline (see EUROPE 11805).
On this dossier, Šefčovič said on Wednesday that he currently had the support of 13 member states to secure an ambitious mandate to negotiate with Russia for a legal framework to guarantee that the offshore section and coastal part of Nord Stream 2 work in line with the principles of international law and EU law on energy and competition. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)