Even after 2020, Gazprom to need Ukraine transit

Two years from now, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom will remain partially dependent on Ukraine's gas transmission system to supply gas to the European Union.

"By this time, the ground infrastructure in the EU will not be ready to receive gas from Nord Stream-2 since not all local pipelines will have been laid," the Russian business daily Kommersant reported.

In particular, it concerns the Eugal gas pipeline in Germany, which is to be completed by the end of 2020. Without it, Gazprom will be only able to supply 34 billion cubic meters of gas per year through Nord Stream-2 with a projected capacity of as much as 55 bcm.

If both lines of the Turkish Stream are completed (nearly 31 bcm), then gas exports from Russia could grow 65 bcm compared with the current volumes. In 2017, Gazprom transmitted 93 bcm of gas through the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS).

Thus, Russia will remain dependent on the Ukrainian GTS even if all pipeline projects bypassing Ukraine have been successfully completed.

Read alsoNaftogaz expects to recover from Russia $8 bln over assets seized in CrimeaAs UNIAN reported earlier, after Gazprom lost a gas dispute with Naftogaz at the Stockholm Arbitration, being obliged to pay the Ukrainian company $2.56 billion, the Russian monopoly first agreed to deliver to Ukraine in March a total of 500 million cubic meters of gas at prices determined by court, but then (on March 1, just 15 minutes before the expected start of supply) suddenly refused to fulfill its contractual obligations and lowered to a critical level the pressure at the entrance to the Ukrainian GTS.

Naftogaz called such actions by Gazprom a failure to fulfill the court's award and blamed the Russian company for gas shortage in Ukraine's GTS. To overcome the crisis, the Cabinet of Ministers on March 2 introduced a five-day national action plan to prevent a crisis in the energy sector, which provided for a restriction on gas consumption within the country, while Naftogaz made an emergency purchase of 60 million cubic meters from the Polish company PGNiG.

Read alsoMogherini: Gazprom must respect its contractual obligationsAccording to President Poroshenko, thanks to the efforts by Naftogaz and the Cabinet of Ministers, the country will complete the heating period without any emergencies. He also stressed that Gazprom would pay "every single penny" under the Stockholm Arbitration's award.