REUTERS
Russia's Gazprom has paid for all the capacities allocated for its gas transit.
LLC Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) has said transit shipments of natural gas through the country's gas transmission system in January-April 2020 shrank by 40% year-over-year (y-o-y), to 15.5 billion cubic meters (bcm).
However, the capacities allocated for Russian gas transit since the beginning of 2020 have been fully paid by Russia's Gazprom in accordance with a new gas transit deal, the company said on its website on May 1.
In April alone, gas transit from Russia via Ukraine totaled 4.4 billion bcm, which was 1% down from March 2020, but 46% down y-o-y.
In addition to gas transit from Russia, the Ukrainian GTS operator in April transported natural gas from Slovakia to Poland in test mode for an international trader who ordered a new short-haul service.
As UNIAN reported earlier, transit supplies of natural gas through the Ukrainian gas transmission system increased by 3.2%, to 89.58 bcm in 2019.
On January 1, 2020, the functions of the country's operator of trunk gas pipelines were transferred from the state-owned Ukrtransgaz to LLC Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine, which was transferred to Magistralni Gazoprovody Ukrainy's management subordinated to Ukraine's Finance Ministry.
On December 30, 2019, Ukraine and Russia signed a new gas transit contract for a period of five years, obliging Russia's Gazprom to pump a minimum of 65 billion bcm of gas via Ukraine in the first year and 40 bcm annually in the next four years. The parties may extend the contract for another ten years.