The European Union is preparing several scenarios to rule out the renewal of a transit agreement on the Ukrainian gas pipeline with Russia when it expires at the end of 2024, the American media outlet Bloomberg reported in an article published on Friday 26 January.
As the EU seeks to reduce its remaining gas dependence on Russia, the European Commission has carried out an analysis of potential scenarios resulting from the end of the transit agreement with Moscow.
According to Bloomberg, this would include modelling the capacity of other interconnections, such as TurkStream, to help offset any shortfall, particularly for the countries most dependent on supplies from Moscow, namely Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Ukraine remains an important route for Russian gas to Europe, “although actual flows on the transit pipeline have been less than 40% of contracted volumes since May 2022”, writes Bloomberg.
According to the media, the European Commission’s analysis should be discussed with the Member States in February, before the official plan is presented to the Energy Ministers at an ‘Energy’ Council meeting on 4 March in Brussels. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)