TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th July, 2019) Ukraine is expecting to experience disruptions in the Russian gas transit to Europe through Ukraine in the first quarter of 2020, Andriy Favorov, the head of the integrated gas business of Ukraine's Naftogaz energy company, told Sputnik.
The existing contracts for the Russian gas transit via Ukraine are to expire by the end of 2019. The parties have not yet reached consensus on their fate nor have they agreed to hold the next round of Russia-EU-Ukraine talks on further gas transits. Speaking at a conference dedicated to reforms in Ukraine, which is being held in Toronto, Favorov said Naftogaz was expecting that "there is going to be about three months interruption in transit through Ukraine." The official suggested that "the Russians are going to adopt quite a hard stance" on the issue.
"In the first quarter. Yes. The Europeans are fully aware of it," Favorov told Sputnik on Wednesday, asked when the company expected the disruptions to take place.
"The next [trilateral] talks are likely to be held after the parliamentary elections. The Russian colleagues have publicly said this. From my point of view, these are commercial talks. And commercial talks should be held by representatives of the companies. The colleagues want to make political talks out of it and they are setting conditions which are unacceptable in advance � abandoning our win in Stockholm [arbitration tribunal]. We are ready for fair and open negotiations," Favorov told Sputnik.
"A couple of trends that we have identified. First, the level of storage of natural gas in Europe that Gazprom is doing is about 15 to 16 percent above last year's level. It's a clear indication that they are preparing for the interruption. That certainly creates challenges for the operations of the Ukrainian system. So we have been stockpiling natural gas as well. Currently we are about 2.5-2.7 billion cubic meters above last year's level," the official added.
