Speaking at a briefing following the results of the North Atlantic Alliance summit, Pyotr Poroshenko said that one of the topics of the negotiations of the NATO member countries was Nord Stream-2. The politician added that the construction of the second branch of the main gas pipeline threatens "European and global security" and will make the European economy "less competitive" and more dependent on Russia.
"Why spend tens of billions of dollars to make the European economy less efficient?" - said Poroshenko.
The Ukrainian leader believes that "secure" Europe and make its economy more "effective" will help Kiev. For this, the transit of natural gas must be concentrated in the Ukrainian direction.
"The most effective would be if Ukraine, as part of Europe, bought Russian gas on the Russian-Ukrainian border," Poroshenko said.
Recall, now the Ukrainian budget receives about $ 3 billion a year from the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe. Payment for the operation of the gas transportation system of Ukraine is carried out by Russia. Within the framework of the scheme proposed by Peter Poroshenko, it is assumed that it will no longer be Russia, but the European Union, who will pay for transit over the Ukrainian territory.
Experts are skeptical about Kiev's idea. According to Stanislav Mitrahovich, an expert at the Finance University under the Russian government, if Gazprom can still agree to this scheme in the future, European companies are likely to oppose it.
"In this case, the EU will have to take on all the risks associated with Ukraine. And over the past years, European countries have actively shied away from this responsibility, shifting it to Gazprom. Whatever Poroshenko said, the likelihood that they will agree to this at all is too small, "the expert said in an interview with RT.
Earlier, Kiev initiated a lawsuit against Gazprom in the Stockholm Arbitration, demanding compensation for damages from gas shortages under a transit contract with Gazprom. At the end of last year, the court granted this claim, obliging Gazprom to pay Naftogaz $ 4.637 billion less claims to Gazprom's claim against Naftogaz, the total amount was $ 2.56 billion. However, Gazprom protested the court's decision , filed in March a complaint to the Swedish Court of Appeal of the district of Svea.
In April, the management of Gazprom announced its intention to terminate the existing agreement on gas transit with the Ukrainian side. Note that in 2019 the current transit contract expires. Although the Russian side does not refuse negotiations on a possible extension of the treaty, Kiev must justify the expediency of such a step for the Russian side, said the head of the energy corporation, Alexei Miller.
But instead of negotiations, Naftogaz on July 6 put forward a new lawsuit against Gazprom. Now the Ukrainian side demands to revise transit tariffs starting from March of this year and pay it $ 11.58 billion without taking into account interest.
At the same time, according to the estimates of the head of Naftogaz, Andrey Kobolev, the termination of gas transit may result in a 3% decline in GDP for Ukraine.
To prevent this, Ukraine plans to create a group in the EU, whose goal is to prevent the implementation of the "Nord Stream-2".
- In the shop "ETERNO" PJSC "Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant" (ChTPZ).
- RIA News
- © Sergey Guneyev
Transatlantic friends
In addition, as its ally in the fight against the project of the Russian gas pipeline, Kiev considers the United States. The White House does often criticize the "Nord Stream-2".
"It's extremely unfortunate that Germany is concluding a gas deal with Russia. We are defending Germany, we are defending France, we are defending all these countries, and yet a number of states are signing an agreement with Russia on the construction of a gas pipeline, "Donald Trump said before the working breakfast in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on June 11.
During his trip to Brussels, the American president repeatedly returned to the topic of "Nord Stream 2", criticizing Berlin. As the head of the White House wrote on his Twitter page, "it is unacceptable that Russia receives dollars for the gas pipeline."
Washington's "special concern" is the "dependence" of Germany on Russia, which, according to Trump, will increase after the launch of the gas transportation project. The American president believes that Germany is "completely controlled" by Moscow, since after the launch of Nord Stream-2, German gas requirements will be covered by more than 70% of Russian supplies.
Although in March 2018, the State Department urged Gazprom to continue the transit of natural gas through the Ukrainian pipeline, its ultimate goal is to reduce the consumption of Russian raw materials by European countries.
As an alternative, Washington offers American liquefied natural gas (LNG). As US Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on July 12 at a meeting with EU officials, the countries of the union should increase LNG imports by abandoning projects such as the Nord Stream-2 and the Turkish Stream.
The US plans include a significant increase in LNG exports in 2018, but it does not turn out well in the European market with Russian pipeline supplies from American producers. And having access to a cheaper Russian gas, Europeans are slow to overpay for American fuel.
Last year, Gazprom set a record for the volume of supplies to Europe - exports in this direction reached 194.4 billion cubic meters. m of gas. For comparison, in 2010 this figure was about 138 billion cubic meters. The share of US gas in the market of EU countries importing Russian fuel amounted to only 3% last year.
Therefore, Washington welcomes any gas projects that are alternative to Russia's. As a "competitor" of Gazprom, the United States is considering a project of the Southern Gas Corridor. As the representative of the Bureau of Energy of the US State Department Vincent Kampos stated on the eve, the US "strongly support" the TAP and TANAP gas pipeline projects.
However, according to experts, the "Southern Gas Corridor" will not be able to compete with Gazprom's projects - this is not sufficient for the volume of gas produced in Azerbaijan.
- Press conference by Donald Trump, Brussels, July 12, 2018
- Reuters
From friendship to enmity
Despite the external resemblance of rhetoric, the interests of Ukraine and the US on the gas issue diverge, experts say. If Washington were able to oust Russia from the European market, Kiev would have lost all revenue from transit.
"Obviously, the more gas comes to Europe in other ways, and not through the Ukrainian GTS, the less it is claimed," Stanislav Mitrokhovich explained in an interview with RT. "It's another matter that the American LNG simply can not replace a significant part of Russian supplies, no matter how much they dream about it in the United States."
At the same time, the expert noted that Kiev will continue to support the US initiatives in this direction, despite the fact that ultimately this is not beneficial to Ukraine, since the current leadership of the country depends too much on Washington
- LNG carrier tank
- AFP
- © ANP / XTRA / LEX van Lieshout
It should be noted that some Ukrainian experts are already sounding the alarm: if Trump can block the Nord Stream-2, then later he can become an opponent of Ukraine on the gas issue.
"In general, for Ukraine there is no difference, for what reason our pipe will be empty: due to the fact that the gas will go through the" Northern stream-2 ", or because it does not go to Europe in principle. The pipe is still empty, "says Sergei Fursa, a Ukrainian expert and specialist in sales of debt securities at Dragon Capital.
In the case of a complete cessation of transit, some Ukrainian economists suggest renting out to European companies a gas storage facility. According to Stanislav Mitrokhovich, this is a relatively realistic scenario. But Ukraine has been conducting such negotiations for more than one year, and European companies still have not shown much interest.
"In any case, such cooperation will not cover losses from loss of transit payments," the expert believes.
Dissatisfied with the emerging situation in the political circles of Ukraine.
"If the government thinks that Donald Trump will save the gas transportation system of Ukraine with his actions, then they are naive. Yes, he criticizes the creation of the "Nord Stream - 2", but does it only in his own interests. Ukraine is simply being used. And if then the Americans themselves deliver gas to Europe, and the pipe will be unnecessary, it is "the problem of the Indians," RT source in the party "Fatherland".
As the source in the administration of Petro Poroshenko told RT, the Ukrainian leader perfectly understands that Ukraine can lose revenue from gas transportation.
"This issue he raised at a meeting with Donald Trump, but no clear answer, as far as we know, did not get", - said the source.
"Doubtful move"
In the opinion of Denis Denisov, Director of the Institute for Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflictology, on the eve of negotiations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Piotr Poroshenko is trying to show that he is as loyal to the US administration as possible.
"But this is already a rather questionable move by the Ukrainian president. Poroshenko is not afraid to spoil relations with Berlin, because he believes that Ukraine will not be included in the EU in the foreseeable future, "the expert added.
However, the preservation of at least a small amount of gas pumping through the Ukrainian GTS after the launch of the "Nord Stream-2" largely depends on Germany. After all, it was the German Energy Minister Peter Altmeyer and the vice-president of the European Commission for Energy Union Affairs Maros Shefovich who earlier promised to make efforts to ensure that the transit of gas through Ukrainian territory was preserved even after the launch of the Nord Stream-2. This intention was later confirmed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Experts note that precisely because of this presumptuous and inflexible approach, Kiev once pushed Moscow to the idea of building additional transit capacities bypassing Ukrainian territory.
"Kiev himself put himself in such conditions, and went to this for a long time. Even before 2014, Ukraine tried to dictate its terms, believing that Russia has no alternative to the Ukrainian GTS. By the way, she was offered to create a gas transportation consortium with the participation of Russia, Ukraine and Germany, but Kiev rejected this idea, saying that the Ukrainian "self-reliance" is in the pipe, and they will not give it to anyone, "summed up Stanislav Mitrahovich.