Russia stopped deliveries of gas to Hungary through Ukrainian pipelines on Oct. 1.
Instead, gas will now flow exclusively through the TurkStream pipeline, commissioned at the start of 2020. According to the Gas Transmission Operator of Ukraine (GTSO), the Ukrainian transit route would typically transport 24.6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
According to Oleksandr Kharchenko, managing director at the Ukrainian energy advisory Center for Energy Research, Russia has a “pump or pay” agreement with Ukraine, which means Ukraine won’t lose out on money because Russia is still contractually obliged to pay for the transit capacity it purchased.
Yuriy Vitrenko, the CEO of Naftogaz, also wrote that Gazprom has the right to stop gas transit through Ukraine as long as it pays for it.
The suspension of gas transit through Ukraine follows a joint Russian-Hungarian deal, concluded on Sept. 27, to transport 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
The 15-year agreement stipulated that gas would no longer be transported through Ukrainian gas infrastructure.
Sergei Makogon, the head of the GTSO, in a press release on Oct. 1, said that Hungary has been receiving gas through Ukraine for decades, and the Ukrainian side has never violated its obligations.
“The monopolization of gas routes by Gazprom, which we are currently witnessing, raises questions about the fundamental principles of the functioning of EU gas markets – competitiveness and transparency,” Makogon added.
The deal sparked a backlash from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, which insists that it would be more profitable to transit gas through Ukraine, rather than through TurkStream because it is the shortest uninterrupted route to European countries.
Ukraine considers the deal a “purely political, economically unreasonable decision,” which will hurt Ukraine’s national security and its relations with Hungary.
On Sept. 28, Ukraine and Hungary summoned each other’s ambassadors to discuss the resulting rift between the two countries. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called Ukraine’s appeal to the European Commission “deeply outrageous” and a “serious violation of our sovereignty and national security interests.”
