In response to the request from the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to authorise the construction of the Russian gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, the Russian gas company, Gazprom, stated on Tuesday 10 April that it was prepared to maintain the transit of Russian gas to the EU through Ukraine on the condition that volumes are reduced and a beneficial contract is established.
In a press release, Alexei Miller, the CEO of Gazprom, insisted that, “The transit (through Ukraine) can be maintained at a volume of 10-15 billion cubic metres a year but the Ukrainians have to provide a valid reason for the economic interest of a new transit contract".
The volume of Russian gas to the EU transiting through Ukraine accounted for 10%-15% of gas consumed in Europe ten years ago but this has significantly declined over recent years, particularly since Nord Stream 1 became operational between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea.
Given the poor relations with Ukraine over the dispute on the payment of arrears, Gazprom has over the past few years warned on several occasions that it wanted to move from transiting gas through Ukraine to the termination of the contract in 2019, which has been upset on a number of occasions owing to Russian-Ukrainian disagreements over the gas issue.
Mr Miller provided assurances that, “We have never considered a total refusal of transit through Ukraine but Russian resources are now more in the north and there will no longer be the same resources as before for the central gas corridor”.
Ms Merkel has been playing host to the Ukrainian President, Petro Porochenko, in Berlin and on Tuesday she admitted for the first time the Ukrainian concerns regarding the "political" dimension to the Nord Stream 2 project, which Berlin has always defended in line with Gazprom and the purely commercial nature justified by the Russian company regarding expected economic growth in future European demand.
By the end of 2019, Nord Stream 2 aims to double capacity from the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline that has been up and running since 2012 and to channel more Russian gas to Germany, under the Baltic Sea and by circumventing Ukraine.
Ms Merkel said that, “It cannot be the case that Nord Stream 2 means Ukraine no longer has any significance with regard to the transit of natural gas. It has strategic importance for Ukraine”.
She added, “In our view, the Nord Stream 2 project is not possible without clarity of how Ukraine's transit role will continue. From this you can already see that this is not just an economic project, but that, of course, political factors must also be taken into account”.
On the basis of the results from its environmental and trade impact study, the German federal maritime and hydraulic agency approved, on 27 March, all the different licenses for developing the 31 km section in its exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea (see EUROPE 11991).
Nord Stream 2 is the subject of a huge controversy, exacerbated by resistance in central and eastern European countries to this project. They are afraid that it will ensure greater Gazprom domination on the gas markets.
The Commission is subsequently attempting to provide assurances that Nord Stream 2 strictly complies with EU law and its energy security interests (see EUROPE 11900). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)