Page 7 - FSUOGM Week 37 2021

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM

The spokeswoman was likely drawing a com- Zakharova also stressed that Russia was pre-
parison with the Soviet-era Yamal-Europe and pared to continue gas transits via Ukraine, as
Ukrainian pipelines that ship Russian gas to long as the terms are suitable. Kyiv has argued
Europe. Russia's TurkStream pipeline, launched that if Russia ends gas transits via Ukraine when
at the start of last year to carry Russian gas to the current contract expires at the end of 2024,
Europe via Turkey, generates a similar carbon Moscow will have no reason not to ramp up its
footprint to Nord Stream 2, Gazprom has said aggression in the eastern Donbas region, warn-
in the past. ing that the situation could devolve into all-out
Much of the criticism levelled against Nord war between the two countries.
Stream 2 is that it is political in nature, potentially "We are ready to continue gas transit via
serving as a tool for Moscow to exert influence in Ukraine, but this issue is purely commercial,"
Europe. But Zakharova reiterated Russia's posi- the spokeswoman said. "It depends on many
tion that the pipeline should only be viewed in factors, including the volume of future European
economic terms. purchases and the competitiveness of alternative
"Nord Stream 2 is a purely economic project, routes."
and Russia has no plans to use it for any other Gazprom has complained recently that
purpose," she said. "We sincerely hope that Nord Ukraine is not offering favourable terms for
Stream 2 will cease to be the subject of all sorts of the transit of additional gas beyond contractual
political speculations, bogus stories, information terms, although the company has faced criti-
campaigns and a pretext for illegal restrictive cism for intentionally withholding some supply,
measures, and will vanish from such a confron- exacerbating shortages on the European gas
tational agenda altogether." market.™

POLICY

Three independent board members

resign at Naftogaz

UKRAINE THREE members of the independent board of through an open and fair competition. In com-
Ukrainian state gas supplier Naftogaz resigned ments on his Facebook page, the CEO said the
Vitrenko has rejected on September 8 amid tensions with the compa- company needed effective corporate governance
the allegations. ny’s current leadership. and said the current board members were not
The board of Western energy executives professionals.
resigned in May in protest over the abrupt fir- “There are no independent [board] members
ing of former CEO Andriy Kobolyev, although with specialised [oil and gas] education and pro-
they later agreed to stay on. That incident, and duction experience, no one with legal education
the appointment of former energy minister and experience,” he said. “But if we sincerely
Yuriy Vitrenko, was criticised by Ukraine’s support the supervisory board as an institution
Western backers, who expressed concerns about and not as a person ... then let us support a real
reforms and Naftogaz’s independence from the competition for all independent members of the
government. supervisory board as soon as possible.”
The National Agency on Corruption Preven- He called for the new board to be elected in
tion (NAZK) later called for Vitrenko’s appoint- line with OECD guidelines through “an open,
ment to be annulled, although he has insisted competitive and merit-based process.” ™
that it complied with the law.
In an interview, Naftogaz supervisory board
head Clare Spottiswoode accused Vitrenko of
failing to co-operate with the board, claiming
he was not answering their questions or sharing
necessary documents.
“We simply cannot be effective in such cir-
cumstances, since we make some decisions, but
they are not carried out,” she was quoted as say-
ing by Interfax-Ukraine.
Rejecting these accusations, Vitrenko said
on September 10 that Naftogaz needed profes-
sional independent directors that are elected

Week 37 15•September•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7