Ukraine and Russia are not negotiating the extension of the contract for the transit of gas to Europe after 2024, so there may not be any supplies through the territory of Ukraine after the end of the contract, the head of Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, said in an interview with Reuters.
“There is nothing, not even a hint, no formal or informal negotiations (with Russia) … we are discussing this with the Americans and the Germans, that we would all like the transit to continue, but the Russians are reluctant to start these discussions,” Vitrenko said.
Earlier, the head of the GTS Operator of Ukraine, Serhiy Makogon, said in an interview with TSN that the company had offered Russia to extend the gas transit contract without waiting for it to end in 2024.
On October 22, Ukraine offered Gazprom a 50% discount on gas transit to Europe in excess of the volumes stipulated in the current contract. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Bloomberg about this. Prior to this, during the auction, Gazprom did not book additional capacities for gas transit through Ukraine for November, TASS reported, citing data from the RBP platform.
Prior to this, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian side is ready to maintain gas transit through Ukraine in the event of competitive commercial proposals. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that in the nine months of 2021 Gazprom increased gas supplies through the territory of Ukraine by more than 8%. “It is safe to say that we will exceed our contractual obligations to supply gas through the territory of Ukraine,” Putin said. He explained that it is economically unprofitable for Gazprom to increase pumping through the Ukrainian gas transportation system even more. Pumping through new systems is about $ 3 billion cheaper per year.
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