Report: Russia, Ukraine mull transit of 30 bcm per year

MOSCOW, Nov 29 (PRIME) -- Moscow and Kiev are discussing transit of only 30 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas per year to the E.U. through Ukraine, Ukrainian newswire ZN.ua reported on Friday quoting sources.

“According to information from sources, the representatives of gas companies of Russia and Ukraine joined the negotiations on Friday as well as the operator of the gas transportation system. To be honest, they are discussing a pessimistic option now of transportation only up to 30 billion cubic meters through the gas transportation system of Ukraine. It is better than the zero option (of zero transit), but it is not profitable for the Ukrainian operator,” the newswire said.

Ukraine wants to sign a 10-year contract under the European legislation with a mandatory annual transit volume of 60 billion cubic meters and a reserve of 30 billion cubic meters more in case of emergency. But Gazprom has plans to launch the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline and the TurkStream pipeline to their full capacity, making this contract a burden, ZN.ua said.

Ukraine stopped direct purchases of Russian gas in 2015. The current gas supply and transit contracts between the countries expire at the end of 2019.

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