Europe plans to keep the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine

The European Commission views Ukraine as a reliable partner and would like to preserve the transit of Russian gas through the country, said Maros Sefcovic, Vice President of the European Commission for Energy.

“Of course, we believe that the transit of gas supplies through Ukraine should be preserved,” Shefchovich said. “We believe that, despite the geopolitical tension on the eastern border of this country, Ukraine has shown over the past two years that it is a reliable transit route, and we want to keep it in the future,” he said. Shefchovic also added that this issue is being discussed not only with European partners, but also with the Russian side.

According to him, an important point in these discussions is the assessment of the total demand for gas in Europe, as well as the choice of the most cost effective ways of transporting gas to the European Union. The Russian company Gazprom has already said that it intends to abandon gas supplies through Ukraine to Europe. The transit contract between Gazprom and Ukraine is valid until 2019.

Nevertheless, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak recently said in an interview with Die Welt that he does not exclude a partial continuation of gas supplies to Europe through the territory of Ukraine even after the commissioning of Nord Stream 2.

During 2015, Gazprom Export supplied 158.56 billion cubic meters of gas to European countries, according to the company. About 82 percent of Russian supplies go to Western Europe and 18 percent to Central European countries.