Brussels, 12/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio stressed on Tuesday the importance of the declaration signed at the weekend by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Kuchma, providing for the constitution of a strategic investor composed in equal parts by Ukrainian, Russian and European gas companies, that will be responsible for the modernisation and the management of the transfer of Russian natural gas towards the EU. "The agreement between Russia and Ukraine with a view to forming a consortium including European companies with equal shares must represent a step forward towards improving the security of gas supplies, transport safety, trade transparency and the reliability of transit in Europe", said Ms de Palacio. After the EU-Ukraine Summit in Yalta in September 2001 (see EUROPE of 8 September, p.8), the Commission had set in place a Ukraine/European group of independent experts to assess reform solutions for gas transit through Ukraine funded by the technical assistance programme, TACIS INOGATE (Interstate Oil and Gas Transport to Europe). First results had confirmed that gas transit infrastructures through Ukraine, representing a third of all EU gas imports, required major rehabilitation investment as well as reform of commercial and financial management of transit so that it corresponds to European practices and rules.
The agreement completes a cooperation programme for gas transit between the Commission and Ukraine begun two years ago, which allowed the achievement of major investment in Ukraine, financed by the Commission in the context of the INOGATE programme, such as the construction of tax counting stations at the borders with Moldova and Russia or the establishment of a regional metrology centre in Kiev, the aim of which is to apply European norms to the gas sector in the region and to introduce the latest European gas technologies.