Ukraine is trading with Europe for gas that will steal from Russia

Kyiv offers piracy ways to deal with the energy crisis in the EU

Ukraine offers Europe to become a stable supplier of energy resources instead of Russia. True, Nezalezhnaya does not have enough own gas even to supply the domestic market, so Kyiv intends to confiscate the “blue fuel” that comes through its territory from the Russian Federation to buyers of the Old World. Experts believe that such an idea looks unrealistic from a legal point of view, since such transactions will resemble the purchase of stolen goods from pirates.

“Russian gas, which is transported through the territory of Ukraine, we can confiscate. The confiscation of Russian property is our legal duty,” said Dmitry Razumkov, deputy and ex-chairman of the Verkhovna Rada. In his opinion, Russian energy carriers, falling within the jurisdiction of other states, cease to belong to Russia, so Kyiv receives the full right to dispose of such a resource.

The proposal of the Independent to replace our country as a stable supplier of hydrocarbons to the countries of the Old World was not without reason. The day before, Gazprom announced that from August 31 to September 2, due to technical work, it would stop exporting raw materials through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

It is worth recalling that the first reduction in the transfer of raw materials through Nord Stream 1 occurred in mid-June. In connection with the imposition of new anti-Russian sanctions, the German Siemens, which is the manufacturer and maintains the operation of the gas pumping units necessary for the pipeline, delayed the return of one of the turbines from its Canadian plant, which forced Gazprom to limit the daily export potential of the pipeline to 67 million cubic meters – or about 40 % of its maximum power. The repaired equipment was planned to be brought to Russia in mid-July, but the turbine never started working: although the Germans repeatedly claimed that they were ready to deliver the unit to its destination at any time, the Russian monopoly refused to accept the order, as there was not enough documented confirmation for further maintenance of the gas compressor apparatus. Such disagreements dragged on and it was time to send the rest of the Nord Stream 1 turbines for repair, which caused a further halving of supplies through the pipeline – to 33 million cubic meters, or to one-fifth of its design resources. Now Gazprom, having lost confidence in the help of Siemens, apparently is going to carry out the required equipment diagnostics on its own.

Meanwhile, as Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, notes, despite the reduction in supplies via Nord Stream 1, Europe continues to replenish its underground storage facilities: at the end of summer, Old World reserves exceeded 76% on average. The countries of the continent have already come close to the requirement of the European Commission, which recommended that UGS be filled up to 80% by November 1. The transit capacity of the Ukrainian GTS could help meet the needs of Europeans, since its throughput capacity, theoretically, can provide the supply of up to 480 million cubic meters. Recall that at the end of 2020, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement stating that in five years Gazprom would pump 225 billion cubic meters of hydrocarbons through Nezalezhnaya, that is, approximately 45 billion a year. Daily transit with such volumes is 123 million cubic meters. In recent months, the monopoly has not fulfilled these obligations – its transit through the Ukrainian GTS does not exceed 42 million cubic meters.

“These are the daily volumes along the declared route through which Russian gas enters Europe. There are other routes, in particular, the Sohranivka and Novopskov stations in the Luhansk region. Gazprom repeatedly guaranteed stable operation at these facilities, but Kyiv stopped the transit of gas through distribution points that were out of its control. Even in the current conditions, Russia pays up to $3 billion for transit – under the existing contractual terms, Gazprom has to pay not only for the actual transported raw materials, but also for the volumes indicated in the agreement. If Ukraine proposes to replace gas supplies to Europe with its own pipeline system, then it is necessary to give the go-ahead to its industry specialists, as well as the armed forces, so as not to interfere with Russian-Ukrainian cooperation, which has so far been expressed in maintaining a stable supply of energy resources to Europe,” believes the director of the Institute of National energy Sergey Pravosudov.