Russian Gas Transit to Europe Continues, While Legal Fight with Ukraine Starts

Slovakia’s Eustream did not register any pressure reduction or gas volumes decrease at the Compressor Station Veľké Kapušany on the border with Ukraine, reads a note released on Tuesday. 

On the other hand, Ukrtransgaz wrote that an incident occurred in the main pipeline Urengoy-Uzhgorod Pomar in the Poltava region, due to damages in the pipeline. 

‘From 15 to 16 we carried out work to localise the damages in the pipeline. Deaths and injuries are not available,’ reads a note released on Tuesday, adding that the incident will not impact on gas transit to Europe.  

Also on Tuesday, the European Commission disbursed the first loan trance from the new EU Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA II) programme for the country. The €500 million transfer follow a €100 million disbursement on 20 May from the MFA I programme.

‘The objective of both MFA programmes is to support Ukraine economically and financially in the current critical stage of its development,’ the European Commission wrote on Tuesday. 

In the while, the contestation goes on.

“A bad one – Russia has completely terminated gas deliveries to Ukraine. Good news is it is summer, we have 14 billion cubic meters of gas and we have filed a claim against Russian Gazprom,” Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Tuesday, saying that Ukraine will claim compensation worth USD 6 bn for ‘overpaid Russian gas.’

Russian authorities said they are ready to continue talks if Ukraine repays its debt.

“We shouldn’t close the window for dialogue. If our Ukrainian colleagues open their ears to reason and resume discussions of the highly-profitable offer – yes, highly-profitable – that we have made to them, I think we will be ready to talk, but only if they repay their debt in full,” Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.