Ukraine's government starts talks with potential partners in managing GTS

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Kistion has said the Ukrainian government began consultations with companies, potential partners in the management of the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS).

"We started consultations with the first seven international companies that had showed interest in joint management of Ukraine's gas transmission system," he wrote on Facebook.

According to Kistion, the government will hold such consultations with those who "showed willingness to have our back" within two days.

As UNIAN reported, in early November 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to create a new company, a GTS operator, JSC "Main Gas Pipelines of Ukraine". At the same time, the management of Naftogaz of Ukraine, the national oil and gas holding company, created a new branch in the structure of the Ukrtransgaz state company – "Operator of Ukraine's GTS."

Read alsoUkraine must fight to retain sustainable gas transit after 2019 – expertEarlier, the state holding said that the unbundling of the GTS into a new legal entity and involvement of a European partner in its management is necessary so that European companies could buy gas on the eastern border of Ukraine and then transfer it to the European market, thus preserving transit volumes after the completion of the current contract with Russian Gazprom. Naftogaz expects to complete the process of GTS unbundling and attract a foreign partner to its management in 2018.

On February 17, 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said more than a dozen world-famous companies had expressed their will to participate in the management of Ukraine's gas transmission system.