Ukraine Gas Flows Tighten in Advance of Dispute Meeting

Naftogaz reports that natural gas supplies to Ukraine have further tightened in advance of today's trilateral Ukraine-Russia-EC negotiations

Gas flows from Hungary to Ukraine were halted yesterday (Thursday 25 September 2014), with Ukrainian TSO Ukrtransgaz receiving notice from the Hungarian TSO FGSZ notifying of a halt of supply at 19:00 for technical reasons “until further notice”.

Ukrtransgaz has a contract with FGSZ which regulates the flow of gas between Ukraine and Hungary in both directions. However, the two operators do not have a standard interconnection agreement.

Naftogaz reports that it has a  supply contract with Western European private companies to supply gas to Ukraine via Hungary. Thursday afternoon, FGSZ stopped supplying these private companies with transit capacity and subsequently, the flow of gas from Hungary to Ukraine ceased. The flow of gas from Ukraine to Hungary has not been affected at present.

The Ukrainian company notes that the unexpected disruption comes a few days after a meeting between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

According to Naftogaz, FGSZ was not available to provide any additional information about the reasons and the duration of the interruption.

Naftogaz stated its commitment to being a reliable partner and vital transit hub for Russian gas to the EU and that in return, it expects its European partners and neighbors to respect their contractual obligations, as well as EU legislation.