Working meeting held with Germany’s Federal Government Commissioner for gas transit across Ukraine

Moscow, October 10 - Neftegaz.RU. A working meeting between Alexey Miller, CEO of Gazprom, and Georg Graf Waldersee, Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany for gas transit across Ukraine, took place on October 9.

The parties discussed issues related to supplies of Russian natural gas to Europe in the period from January 1, 2020. Ukraine is currently taking steps to integrate the EU’s Third Energy Package into its legislation. To that end, the Ukrainian authorities need to, inter alia, ensure the independence of the national energy regulator and create an independent certified gas transmission operator.

It was noted that the operator will have to undertake extensive preparations and substantial time commitments to successfully pass the certification and licensing procedure. In addition, there remains a need to approve an economically sound and transparent gas transmission tariff methodology for the independent operator.

Unless these comprehensive efforts are completed by January 1, 2020, the only option for cooperation in the transitional period will be to extend the effective contract for gas transit adapted to the current market conditions.