Page 50 - UKRRptFeb20

years is estimated at some UAH150bn ($6.3bn), Head of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) LLC Serhiy Makogon has said. Other estimates put the sum higher. The Energy Ministry said the total value was $18bn whereas Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev cited $7.2bn.
Ukraine expects a $450mn per year revenue shortfall after Russia has launched the TurkStream gas pipeline​, Operator of the Pipeline System of Ukraine CEO Sergei Makogon said at a press conference on Thursday, as reported by channel Nash TV. “We cannot call this a loss, this is a revenue shortfall. We estimate it at about $450mn per year... we will just fail to earn the money,” Makogon said.
Ukraine’s new gas pipeline company signed an interconnection agreement with Slovakia’s Eustream​ in the last week of December, completing a missing link for EU-standard agreements with all of Ukraine’s neighbors, but Belarus. “All parts for gas transit along the Ukrainian route are now in place - Great news for Europe’s energy security!” tweeted Marosˇ Sˇefcˇovicˇ, a Slovak politician who was the EU’s lead negotiator on the 3-way gas talks.
Through November, Ukraine’s pipelines carried West 3% more Russian gas than last year​. Uktransgaz reports that Ukraine carried 81.5bn cubic meters to the EU and Moldova. Negotiations are underway to replace the 10-year-old gas transit pact.
New seismic surveys and analysis indicate that the Przemys´l gas field, which straddles the Polish-Ukrainian border, may have 29bn cubic meters of recoverable gas​, triple the amount previously estimated. This new estimate was released in Warsaw Monday at a signing ceremony to create an exploration and production joint venture between Poland’s dominant gas firm, state-run PGNiG, and Energy Resources of Ukraine, a Kyiv-based Ukrainian-American company.
With European court rulings starting to bite, Gazprom discussed in Vienna at the start of December paying its $3bn debt to Naftogaz through gas deliveries​. Sensing advantage, Yuriy Vitrenko, Naftogaz executive director, proposed on Facebook that Ukraine’s state gas company drop a potential $12bn lawsuit against the Russian state gas company in return for a 10-year gas transit contact. On Jan. 1, Gazprom’s existing 10-year gas transit contract expires, threatening to deprive Ukraine of $3bn a year in pipeline revenues.
For Russia, Putin offered to sell gas directly to Ukraine at a 25% discount,​ “especially for the industrial consumers.” Separately, Ukraine’s Naftogaz announced Tuesday that low regional gas prices allow it to cut gas prices this month to consumers by 13%. This follows an 11% cut in November. Under an earlier agreement with the IMF, all domestic gas prices in Ukraine are to be pegged to regional gas prices, starting May 1. Today, EU gas prices are about half the levels of one year ago.
Strengthening Ukraine’s hand at the bargaining table, the nation has 20bn cubic meters of gas in storage​, 30% more than at this time last year. In addition, the US Congress made moves Monday to impose sanctions on Western companies building Nord Stream 2, the Russia-Germany trans-Baltic gas line.
50​ UKRAINE Country Report​ February 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com