Trilateral Talks Postponement: Technicalities or Political Wrangling?
Despite the increase in cooperation between Ukrainian and European authorities, gas supply talks with Russian Energy Minister to secure supplies to Ukraine until the end of the next heating season have been cancelled.
‘As not all technical questions at expert level have yet been answered, trilateral expert talks need to continue next week in Brussels with a view to properly prepare the next trilateral meeting at political level’ reads a note released by the European Commission on Friday.
The negotiations should have been held next week, and it is still unclear whether the ‘postponement’ marks a change in the positive sentiment between Gazprom and Naftogaz. The two companies recently signed a contract to extend the so-called Winter Package until June 30. The Ukrainian company increased gas imports from Russia - it now pays around $248 per thousand cubic metres of gas - and made transfers for gas supplies till mid-April.
Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič stated he expects the talks to take place by the end of April. Last week, the Ukrainian government reported that a 12-month agreement for gas supplies would have possibly been finalised during negotiations with Russia to be brokered by the European Union in Berlin on 13-14 April.
UKRAINIAN EFFORTS TO COMPLY WITH EUROPEAN LAWS
The Ukrainian government is increasingly coordinating with European authorities. On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a law to align its natural gas market with the EU’s Third Energy Package.
“The new gas market law will contribute to modernise the gas sector, improve real market condition and more competitive prices in Ukraine” Šefčovič tweeted on Friday.
Representatives of Naftogaz presented the new law to officials from NATO and the European Commission a few hours before.
‘During the visit, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev took part in a meeting of the NATO - Ukraine Commission which was devoted to energy security issues’ reads the communiqué released on Friday, adding that the Naftogaz delegation also met with representatives of the European Commission to define the next steps in reforming the Ukrainian gas market.
The NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) is the decision-making body responsible for developing the NATO-Ukraine relationship.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament focused to “import” in the country the concepts of “ownership unbundling” and “free price system”, while also focusing on the establishment of an independent National regulatory authority.
“The Secretariat continued to actively support the law’s adoption, starting from the technical level to presenting and defending the law in front of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Minister and Parliament” Janez Kopač, Director of the Energy Community, commented as reported by Naftogaz.
The Energy Community is a Vienna-based organisation established between the EU, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine. Its aim is to extend EU internal energy market to Eastern Europe.
WHAT’S NEXT?
If Russia and Ukraine had an interest in fuelling tensions, they could easily leverage on the “grey zones” of the contract - like gas supplies to Luhansk and Donetsk. Technical aspects are not pipsqueaks, and the devil is in the detail. Next week will tell whether the these ‘technical questions’ are just details or political divergences.
Sergio Matalucci
Sergio Matalucci is an Associate Partner at Natural Gas Europe. Follow him on Twitter: @SergioMatalucci