Supplier to Ukraine Buys Gas from Poland

Among the winners of the April gas supply tender held this month by Ukrtransgaz was ERU Trading, which is to buy the gas from Polish PGNiG. In a joint statement April 25, they said gas will be delivered by PGNiG to its Ukrainian partner ERU Trading, which is owned by the US company ERU. Only ERU was listed in the Ukrainian pipeline and storage operator's announcement.

ERU president Dale Perry said: "This past week has been very active for ERU, starting with the signing of a $38mn insurance contract with the US government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which provides contractual assurances during the delivery and storage of these large volumes of gas. Over the past year ERU has worked closely with PGNiG and today’s announcement is further evidence of the positive results achieved through our co-operative efforts."

PGNiG trading head Maciej Wozniak said its company's exports to Ukraine began last year and the company continues to evaluate opportunities of natural gas sales in the opening Ukrainian market, which has been "developing rapidly thanks to the implementation of European regulations and standards. ERU Trading’s win in the tender for one of the instalments of gas delivery to Ukrtransgaz proves that PGNiG’s purchase conditions are indeed very competitive."

Prozorro, the platform used for the auction, allows participants and third parties to monitor the value of bids in real-time, thus providing transparency and equal conditions for all tender participants, the statement said.

Ukrtransgaz told NGW last week that the price of the gas would be indexed monthly to the NetConnect Germany hub, a liquid title transfer point, the winning lowest offers being based on balance of April prices there.

The biggest single winner, with three lots sold, was parent company Naftogaz Ukrainy. The unbundling of supplier from transporter is due to start this summer, once the two-way contract disputes with Gazprom – one on ship-or-pay and one on take-or-pay – have been resolved by the arbitration court in Stockholm. 

William Powell