Ukraine has prepared to stop the transit of Russian gas, Mr. Galushchenko said at the German-Ukrainian Business Forum in Berlin.
Our position is completely open. We are preparing for no transportation from January 1. And we have been preparing for a long time. This year alone, we have conducted some pressure tests to see how the gas system will function without transportation, the news agency Ukrinform quoted Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko as saying.
The key gas transit agreement between Moscow and Kiev expires on December 31. Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly stressed that there are no plans to extend the agreement.
The transit agreement between Ukraine's state-owned energy company Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom energy giant was signed in 2019. At the time, Naftogaz hailed the deal as a security deal for the domestic gas market. The Ukrainian company revealed that Gazprom paid nearly 3 billion USD for transportation services, thereby ensuring that Ukraine's transit system will operate without losses for 5 years from the date of signing the contract.
Ukraine's gas pipeline network is connected to the pipeline systems of Moldova, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. According to the latest data, the EU still receives about 5% of its gas consumption from Russia via Ukraine.
Naftogaz's transportation system and the European branch of the TurkStream gas pipeline are the two remaining pipeline routes carrying Russian gas to central and southern Europe. The TurkStream gas pipeline runs from Russia across the Black Sea to Turkey and then continues to the border with Greece - an EU member state.
For its part, Russia has expressed its readiness to continue supplying gas after 2024. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller warned in October that the EU would commit an energy suicide by closing its doors on Russian gas. Miller predicted that EU policies would lead to further de industrialization, increased volatility in the gas market and could lead to new gas price shocks and supply disruptions.
Several EU countries continue to rely on Russian gas, despite sharp supply cuts due to Russian sanctions and Brussels' push to cut energy ties with Russia.
Hungary and Slovakia - the two EU countries most closely linked to Russian gas - have expressed concern about the loss of Russian gas via Ukraine. More than half of Budapest's gas consumption still comes from Russia under a 15-year contract signed with Gazprom in 2021.
Increasing dependence on the TurkStream pipeline and replacing Russian gas with supplies from Azerbaijan transported to the EU via Ukraine are seen by the EU as feasible solutions.
