Page 121 - RusRPTAug22

Ukraine can increase gas transit to Europe sixfold. The Ukrainian gas transportation system can transport more than 200 million cubic meters of gas daily to the EU. Currently, the Russians use only 42 million cubic meters of that capacity, the press service of the GTS Operator of Ukraine reported. "Nord Stream - 1 and Nord Stream - 2 are redundant. I believe they were part of the aggression that we have been observing from the beginning," commented the company's general director, Serhii Makogon, on the situation with transit. He noted that the technical capacity of the Suja hydroelectric plant is 244 million cubic meters, and the capacities are quite sufficient for Europe to receive: reliable gas transit, a reduction in the price of blue fuel, and the opportunity to prepare for the heating season effectively.
Germany no longer sees Russia as reliable gas supplier. Russia resumed the flow of natural gas through the Nord Stream pipeline via the Baltic Sea to the EU on July 21 after a 10-day outage. However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that supplies remained unreliable because Russia had limited the pipeline's capacity to 40%. The moves were interpreted by critics as part of Russia's efforts to blackmail and intimidate the EU.
Construction of a Russian-Chinese natural gas pipeline transiting through Mongolia will begin in 2024, the landlocked country’s prime minister has said. The Power of Siberia-2 pipeline, which will deliver Europe-bound gas from western Siberian fields to China for the first time, is expected to go online in 2030. Energy industry executives expect the timeline to accelerate due
121 RUSSIA Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com