Ukraine’s pipelines transported significantly less Russian gas than planned through the country in October, according to energy ministry adviser Olena Zerkal.
This largely resulted from Hungary’s recent 15-year agreement with Russia to import gas through the southern TurkStream pipeline, Serbia and Austria, a route that goes around Ukraine.
On Oct. 1, all flow from Russia to Hungary through Ukraine stopped, reducing the daily volume by 20% and deepening the rift between the two countries. There was another volume decrease in September.
Zerkal said that Russia had paid for 120 million cubic meters per day but is only using 85 million.
“To say that they are fulfilling all their contracts is blasphemy and manipulation of numbers and facts,” Zerkal told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“This is direct market manipulation, to which everyone is now paying attention,” she said.
[THREAD]: The #EnergyCrisis and #gasprice 📈is a consequence of deliberate choices by a dominant gas supplier to Europe not to use the existing gas transmission infrastructure pic.twitter.com/f0qTTl2t5T
— Gas TSO of Ukraine (@GasTSOua) October 16, 2021
Andrew Chakhoyan, Founder & CEO of Strategic Narrative Consulting, also noted that volumes of gas transit through Ukraine fell dramatically.
Russia has recently completed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline through the Baltic Sea, allowing it to deliver gas directly to Germany, while bypassing Ukraine. Opponents of the pipeline warned that this will cost Ukraine billions of dollars in transit fees and increase Europe’s dependence on Russia’s gas.
In 2019 Ukraine and the Russian Federation signed a five-year contract, where Gazprom agreed to transport 65 billion cubic meters of gas through Ukraine in the first year and 40 billion in each of the four subsequent years.
Under the deal, Gazprom has to pay the fixed rate, even when transporting less than 40 billion cubic meters.
Andrian Prokip, an energy expert with the Ukrainian Institute of the Future, said the recent volume decrease shouldn’t affect Ukraine economically since Russia has to pay regardless.
However, Sergiy Makogon, the director of the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine, warned about Russia consolidating its control over the European gas market.
“The monopolization of gas routes by Gazprom raises the question of the fundamental principles of the functioning of the EU gas markets – competition and transparency,” Makogon said in a statement. “The strengthening of the dominance of one player and its use of leverage for obvious political purposes amid a shocking gas price increase in Europe has to be stopped.”
