Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has offered Russia a 50% discount for shipping natural gas to Europe via Ukraine as an incentive to boost supplies amid the continent-wide energy crisis, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 23.
The special offer will be available to Russian energy giant Gazprom as well as to European companies, Zelensky said.
“Ukraine offers this additional capacity to all potential transit countries,” he said. “We would like to see European companies as customers, but additional capacity is available for Gazprom as well.”
Hoping to encourage Russia to boost gas deliveries, the discount applies to volumes beyond the contractual 40 billion cubic meters a day of natural gas that Ukraine already transports to Europe from Russia.
Ukraine is ready to transport an additional 55 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said during a press briefing on Oct. 22, while Zelensky said it could provide 19 billion cubic meters by the end of the year.
However, the discount must be approved by three parties – Ukraine’s National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities, the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine and Naftogaz.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine is currently discussing a gas shipment proposal with Berlin and Brussels.
“We expect them to take steps soon in practical negotiations on this issue, which is certainly important for the whole of Europe,” he said.
He also accused Russia of organizing the gas crisis in Europe, urging the European Union to coordinate its response with Ukraine, according to the AFP.
“This is a real gas aggression against the European Union,” Zelenskiy said. “Only rapid coordinated actions can stop the crisis.”
Read also: Gas prices continue to soar, Putin blames Europe
Europe is going through an energy crunch with gas and electricity prices at record highs. Russia has throttled the supply of gas to Europe by refusing to use Ukraine’s gas transit infrastructure.
Low volumes of gas have made the supply of natural gas in Europe so tight that the prices went up by almost 400 percent since the beginning of the year. To cope with the shortage, utility providers are now switching to power generated from coal or fuel oil, two of the world’s dirtiest fuels.
Russia, which supplies 35% of the European Union’s gas imports, is being accused of weaponizing its dominant role to achieve its political goals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is ready to increase gas supply to the European Union in exchange for the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a project which would isolate Ukraine and increase Europe’s energy reliance on Russia.
This move has been widely seen as blackmail from opponents to the project, including Ukraine. The new pipeline may cause Ukraine to lose at least $1.5 billion in transit fees per year.
At a large-scale energy conference last week, Putin rejected claims that Russia was restricting gas on purpose, labelling them “entirely groundless bloviation.”
