Ukraine to "Lose Gas Flow Volumes" With Nord and South Stream

The volumes of gas pumped from Ukraine will be reduced due to new and upcoming pipelines, lessening the value of Ukraine's gas transport system, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said. 

Speaking to Russian newspaper Izvestia, President Yanukovych said that the recently opened Nord Stream pipeline and the upcoming South Stream pipeline would have a knock-on effect for Ukraine's gas transport.

"The first phase of Nord Stream has already been built," the Interfax news agency reports him as saying to the paper. "That means that we [Ukraine] will lose gas flow volumes. Construction of South Stream has begun. The first facility - a gas storage facility - has already been commissioned in Serbia. Based on that, Ukraine's gas transport system will lose value in economic and political terms."

The pipelines would put Ukraine under further financial pressure as President Yanukovych said that the country's transit systems were in need of modernisation, at a potential cost of between $5 billion and $7 billion. As Ukraine could afford this cost, he said. the country is now planning to enter a consortium for the work.

"Ukraine has done this for the sake of modernising and technically stabilising our pipes," he said.

He also told the paper that he was confident that discussions with Russian Gazprom would be completed soon, with both sides coming to a compromise on a revised gas price deal for Ukraine.