MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti) – European suppliers are unable to provide physical reverse deliveries of gas to Ukraine, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Monday.
“In regard to [gas] reversal. The so-called circular reverse or the so-called semi-fraudulent reverse: no European supplier can deliver the physical reverse of gas to Ukraine,” Miller said at a press conference.
He noted that Kiev is trying to dispose of the Russian gas running through Ukrainian pipes at its own discretion.
“[Ukraine] doesn’t have that right. The owner of Russian gas in the Ukrainian pipeline doesn’t change, the supply point of Russian gas is outside the territory of Ukraine,” Miller stated, adding that Ukraine’s underground storage facilities are currently holding 11.5 billion cubic meters of unpaid Russian gas.
“You said there’s some gas. On the one hand, there’s not enough gas to last the winter, according to our estimates, Ukraine needs to pump 18.5 billion cubic meters of gas into its underground storage facilities so that Ukraine can more or less feel confident during the fall-winter period. But, excuse me, but the first few months since the beginning of this year, Ukraine has pumped astronomical volumes of gas into its underground facilities for free,” Miller concluded.
Gazprom said it would deliver gas to Europe via alternative routes if Ukraine starts tapping Europe-bound gas, keeping daily records of volumes of Russian gas leaving the Ukrainian gas transit network.
