Slovakia does not apply European energy standards in relations with Ukraine.

Serhiy Makogon, Head of GTS Operator of Ukraine LLC, told about this in an interview with the American agency S&P Global Platts.

In addition, the Slovak gas transmission company Eustream does not offer the capacity of the gas distribution station (GIS) Veельké Kapusany (located near the border with Ukraine) for October, he added.

According to the official, Kiev several times sent a request to Bratislava demanding to clarify the reasons why the facilities at Veельké Kapusany are not available.

As Makogon explained, the Ukrainian company needs to launch an auction for the acquisition of the capacities of the Ukrainian part of the pipeline in accordance with the European CAM NC mechanism.

“Customers hesitate to buy capacities on our side if they don't know if they can buy them on the Slovak side,” Makogon said.

He added that this proves the need to harmonize procedures on both sides of the border based on European standards.

However, Kiev has so far failed to make progress in negotiations with Bratislava on this issue.

Sergey Makogon noted that he did not expect such a development of events.

“Even when we had discussions with the European Commission, I said that we were able to agree on the application of European rules on the border between Russia and Ukraine, but we cannot agree on them on the border with Slovakia!”

- he stressed.

  • Head of the company "GTS Operator of Ukraine" Serhiy Makogon

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  • © mcfire76

In addition, Sergei Makogon predicted a 60-70% reduction in gas transmission capacities in Ukraine in the future.

The demand for the services of the Ukrainian GTS will fall after the volume of Russian gas transit to Europe drops to 40 billion cubic meters.

m. This may happen next year, although Ukraine is capable of transporting 145 billion cubic meters.

meters of gas per year from Russia to Europe.

“We don't need the kind of compressor capacity that we have now.

We will have to phase out 60-70% of the capacity, because they are simply not needed, ”said Makogon.

He also spoke about the sharp reduction in gas transit through the Ukrainian territory to Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria after the launch of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

Makogon noted that the volume of fuel supplied through Ukraine to these countries fell by 95%.

As Stanislav Mitrakhovich, a leading expert of the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University under the Russian government, noted in an interview with RT, announcing plans to seriously reduce the capacity of the Ukrainian gas transmission system, Kiev admitted that it faced big problems. 

“The Ukrainian authorities are coming to understand that they will not be able to live as before, earning money from the transit of Russian gas.

Plus Kiev is now experiencing difficulties in relations with Bratislava in the gas sector, ”the expert emphasized.

Waste of time

The head of the Ukrainian GTS Operator explained that Slovakia uses loopholes in European regulations, according to which the application of a number of rules remains at the discretion of the EU country.

“But we in Ukraine have spent a huge amount of time and resources to implement European norms, network codes, the Third Energy Package, to carry out unbundling, we have involved thousands of people inside the company to meet these requirements.

We have been working on this for almost three years, ”emphasized Makogon.

Now, the Ukrainian side is faced with the fact that the EU country itself is not ready to implement European network codes on the border with Ukraine, Macagon said.

“I am personally very upset with this situation,” the Ukrainian official said.

  • Eustream as pipeline,

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  • © Radovan Stoklasa

He said that Kiev is now trying to resolve this issue together with the European Commission and the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).

He also commented on the maintenance of the gas pipeline in the direction of the gas distribution station (GIS) "Budince", which was built in 2014 for the physical reverse of the fuel.

Makogon explained that the alternative route through the connection point “Veельké Kapushany” still has free capacities, so the repairs at “Budyntsi” could not restrict gas supplies to Ukraine.

As a reminder, in the summer of 2020, the Ukrainian GTS Operator announced plans to begin repairs on the reverse gas pipeline.

The works lasted from 1 to 21 September.

In order to preserve gas supplies to Ukraine, Kiev proposed to increase the volume of the virtual reverse, which now amounts to 10 million cubic meters per day, by combining Veельké Kapushany and Budince into one virtual point, or transferring the reserved capacities to the Ve Вké Kapushany direction for free.

However, the Slovak side did not accept these proposals. 

Opaque relationships

Serhiy Makogon has previously stated about Slovakia's unwillingness to apply EU norms in the framework of energy cooperation with Ukraine.

In July 2020, he announced that Ukraine had appealed to the European Commission and the Secretariat of the Energy Community with a request to resolve the contradictions with Bratislava.

“After Ukraine and the EU jointly managed to implement European legislation on the Ukraine-Russian border, the situation with manual and non-transparent distribution of capacities on the Ukraine-Slovakia border looks extremely strange,” Sergei Makogon wrote on his Facebook page.

  • GIS "Veельké Kapushany"

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  • © Joe KLAMAR

He also recalled that from March 1, 2020, Bratislava could provide a virtual reverse in the direction of the GIS Ve Вké Kapushany in the amount of up to 110 million cubic meters.

m per day, but in practice it offers only 10 million cubic meters.

m per day.

The corresponding agreement was concluded between Ukraine and Slovakia in February 2020.

As the Slovak gas transmission company Eustream clarified then, the volume of the reverse directly depends on the availability of transit through the Ukrainian territory.

In case of interruptions in gas supplies from Ukraine to Slovakia, Bratislava can stop the reverse.

However, at the time of signing the agreement, these conditions were quite suitable for Kiev.

As Sergei Makogon said at the time, this scheme would reduce Ukraine's dependence on the Russian Gazprom.  

According to Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, Slovakia is now trying to put pressure on Ukraine so that Kiev will increase the reverse in the Slovak direction and agree to additional conditions.

“After Ukraine has implemented European legislation, it has the opportunity to use not physical, but virtual reverse.

This is convenient, since the transaction is carried out on paper, but in practice, Ukraine simply keeps part of the transit gas for itself, "the expert explained in an interview with RT.

However, as Yushkov explained, before the virtual reverse scheme appeared, Ukraine was driving gas at the border of European countries through looped gas pipelines so that it would pass through the meters.

And the largest such gas pipeline was on the border with Slovakia.

Therefore, until 2020, it was Slovakia that was the largest supplier of reverse gas to Ukraine, Yushkov explained.

“After the introduction of the practice of virtual reverse, Poland became a key supplier.

Probably, Slovakia is deliberately putting pressure on Ukraine in order to regain the reverse contracts that Warsaw inherited.

This is a deliberate bargaining, because Bratislava has no other reason not to follow European norms in relations with Kiev.

It is quite possible that Slovakia will be able to take Ukraine "by starvation," the expert emphasized. 

The "dressing room" of the European Union

Sergei Pravosudov, director of the Institute of National Energy, shares a slightly different point of view.

According to the expert, the disagreements between Slovakia and Ukraine are related to the desire of the Ukrainian side to save on fuel delivery costs.

“Probably, the Ukrainian side wanted to agree with Bratislava on the cancellation or reduction of the delivery cost.

But Slovakia is interested in preserving its income.

It is possible that it is for this reason that it restrains the volume of the virtual reverse for Ukraine and prefers the physical one for the gas pipeline built in 2014, "the expert suggested in a commentary on RT.

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  • © JOHN THYS

In turn, Stanislav Mitrahovich

believes that Slovakia does not allow Ukrainian traders to book the capacity of the Velke Kapushany gas pipeline in order to preserve all the volumes of the pipeline for Russian gas supplies to the European market.

Bratislava is in no hurry to apply the norms of the Third Energy Package to its gas pipeline due to the fact that in this case it would have to leave part of the pipeline's capacity in reserve, the expert believes.

“Slovakia does not want to complicate relations with Gazprom, which was booking the capacity of this gas pipeline long before Kiev began to show interest in them.

I doubt that an appeal to the European Commission and European regulators will help Ukraine push through its interests in this case.

We can say that Ukraine has gained nothing from the implementation of the European Third Energy Package.

It was more of an ideological step - standing in the "dressing room" of the European Union, Kiev showed its adherence to European rules, but received nothing in return, "Mitrahovich summed up.