EU to help Ukraine diversify gas supplies

摘要

Speaking at the recent 16th EU-Ukraine Summit in Brussels, Ukraine's Minister of Energy and Coal Eduard Stavytskyi stated that the European Union will assist Ukraine in diversifying natural gas supplies, which should influence the current price Ukraine is paying for Russian gas. He stated that in the near future, Ukraine could secure some 30bn cm/y of gas from the west - through Poland and Slovakia - enough to meet the country's annual domestic demand for gas. The existing technical conditions in Europe are sufficient for servicing the shipments, he said, and, notably, the gas would be supplied at the wholesale market price. Currently, Ukraine is purchasing most of its imported gas from Russia - 26bn cm in 2012, projected to rise to 20bn cm in 2013. Ukraine also began importing gas from Germany in November 2012.