REUTERS
The current transit contract between Ukraine and Gazprom was signed in 2009 for a period of 10 years.
CEO of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolyev says Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom may refuse to sign a long-term contract on gas transit through Ukraine and admits the transition to reserving capacities on general terms.
"In principle, Gazprom might not sign a contract with the Ukrainian side. This means that at the end of 2019, Gazprom might address the Ukrainian operator of the GTS [gas transmission system], which at that time must be fully prepared for unbundling from the Naftogaz group, and simply order services," he told a Ukrainian TV channel on November 29.
"This means that it [Gazprom] will pay at the same rate that everyone else pays, on general terms. Using such a mechanism, it will be able to reserve gas transit volumes, for example, for 2020, or for six months, or for a month," he added.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, in 2017, Ukraine transported 93 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to the European countries, which was a record high amount in the past years.
Transit shipments of natural gas via the Ukrainian gas transmission system in 2016 grew by 23% from 2015, to 82.2 bcm.
The current transit contract between Ukraine and Gazprom was signed in 2009 for a period of 10 years. After its expiry (from 2020), the Russian monopoly plans to minimize gas transit through the Ukrainian territory to 10 bcm-15 bcm per year.
In order to preserve transit shipments after 2019, Naftogaz and the government suggested allocating the GTS to a new independent legal entity and attracting a European partner for its management.