European companies must have access to all gas pipelines connecting Russia and the European Union to ensure fair competition, the CEO of Ukraine's energy Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, said on Wednesday
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2021) European companies must have access to all gas pipelines connecting Russia and the European Union to ensure fair competition, the CEO of Ukraine's energy Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Kiev hosted negotiations between Ukraine and Germany on the issue of gas transit from Russia to the EU. Russian gas transit has long been an issue in both Russian-Ukrainian bilateral relations and the European political space, given that Russia's share in European gas imports is consistently about 50%, while Ukraine is one of the major transit routes.
"In order to ensure full compliance with European legislation, which Germany and the United States themselves are talking about, fair competition must be ensured. Which means that all companies, primarily in Europe, must have non-discriminatory access � the same as Gazprom � to all gas pipelines that connect Russia and the EU. So that European companies can decide for themselves which pipeline they will transport gas through," he said during a press conference following the talks.
During the negotiations, Kiev demonstrated its readiness to extend the contract with Russian energy giant Gazprom beyond 2024, according to the executive. The Ukrainian side also expressed the desire to transfer gas transit rights to European companies.
"We pointed out that specific European companies with whom we spoke want themselves to continue transit through Ukraine they want to receive gas at the border between Ukraine and Russia and then independently order transit capacities through Ukraine," Vitrenko noted.
At the end of 2019, Moscow and Kiev agreed to extend the transit contract until 2024, while the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, said the company was ready to continue gas transit through Ukraine after 2024, based on the economic feasibility and technical condition of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
