REUTERS
Russian gas transit through Ukraine to Europe decreased in January-February 2015 by 39% compared to the same period in 2014, to 7.9 billion cubic meters, according to fresh data from Ukrainian state-owned gas company Ukrtransgaz.
But Ukrtransgaz, the operator of Ukraine’s national gas transmission system, said it had fully complied with and fulfilled in a timely manner all of Russia’s applications for the transportation of gas for European consumers.
As of March 7, 2015, the daily transportation of gas through the Ukrainian gas transmission system has been at 178.5 million cubic meters, down by 2.6% on a year-over-year basis.
In 2014, transit of Russian gas to European Union countries through the territory of Ukraine fell by 29.1% compared with last year, to 59.4 billion cubic meters.
According to the transit contract between Ukraine and Russia, Russia’s Gazprom has to transit through the territory of Ukraine not less than 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.
In October 2014, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine filed a lawsuit in the Stockholm arbitration court with the demand to revise the contract for the transit of gas from Gazprom, and determine compensation for insufficient gas transit through Ukraine.
Russia has several times used its gas supplies as a lever of political influence on Ukraine, notably in 2009, when it abruptly shut of gas supplies to Ukraine in the depths of a harsh winter, causing supplies to the south-east of Europe to drop as well.