FX.co ★ EU to sell mere 8 bln cubic meters of gas to Ukraine

Sabine Berger, spokeswoman for European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger, said 8 billion cubic meters of gas a year delivered through Slovakia is what Ukraine can count on at best, ITAR-TASS informs.
Ms. Berger added that Gazprom had sent no notification to the European Commission regarding the halt in gas supplies to Ukraine. The date of another round of trilateral talks involving Russian and Ukrainian energy ministers as well as the EU has not been determined yet. Ms. Berger worded hope for resumption of the trilateral talks.
At the Government's session on June 16, Ukraine's Fuel and Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said that Russia had stopped transporting gas to Ukraine, while transiting 185 million cubic meters of gas to the EU daily. He also noted that Kiev is ready to ensure due gas supplies to the Ukrainians.
On June 16, at 10:00 GMT+3, Gazprom switched Naftogaz Ukraine to a prepayment mode for gas deliveries filed a suit against Naftogaz Ukraine to the Stockholm International Arbitration to recover Ukraine’s $4.5 bln debt.
Naftogaz then turned to the European Commission asking for a major reversal of gas flow from Slovakia, saying it will not affect Russia’s gas deliveries to Europe.
European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger fears difficulties in gas supplies unless the Ukrainian reserves of gas to transit to Europe are filled up until winter. Within the last weeks, Naftogaz pumped 12 billion cubic meters of gas into the storage tanks, Ukraine paid for supplies made in January-March, and its debt for those made in November-December 2013 and April-May runs 3.9 billion U.S. dollars.
As the Russian company puts it, the European Commission was notified of possible gas supplies disruptions if Naftogaz Ukraine decides to siphon off the gas without prior permission. Ukraine claimed it would take the gas without paying for it unless Russia cuts the price further.
Ukraine is reported to have imported 29.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2013. Supplies from Europe through Poland and Hungary account for 2.2 billion cubic meters of this volume, while as much as 27.4 billion cubic meters was drawn from Russia. In 2012, almost all imported gas, which totals 32.9 billion cubic meters, was transported to Ukraine from Russia. In 2011, Ukraine’s gas consumption reached 59.3 billion cubic meters, the maximum over the post-crisis period.