MOSCOW, June 23 (RIA Novosti) — Russia’s EU-bound gas flows through Ukraine comply with transit contract parameters, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Monday.
“The transit of Russian gas through Ukraine is flowing according to contract parameters with a volume over the last 24 hours of around 205 million cubic meters,” Kupriyanov said.
Earlier on Monday, reports appeared in the media that some of the Russian gas travelling to Europe remained in Ukraine last week. The Russian Energy Ministry on Monday denied reports that Ukraine is siphoning off gas bound for Europe and said the gas meters were merely showing a technical recalculation.
Starting June 16, Gazprom was forced to switch to a prepayment system for Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine after talks on Kiev’s debt repayment and price revisions mediated by EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger failed. Ukraine refused to cover its unprecedented debt and is no longer receiving gas from Russia, effectively functioning as a transit country in the Russia-EU supply chain.
The Russian gas giant assured European consumers of its gas that flows through Ukraine would not be affected, continuing daily deliveries of 185 million cubic meters intended for the European market.
Gazprom also confirmed the planned cancellation of the bilateral natural gas balancing agreement with Ukraine, saying it could cover fluctuations in daily European consumption on its own.
