Kiev should be thankful to Moscow for its intentions to modernize Ukraine's gas transportation system, an expert from the Ukrainian Center for Systematic Analysis and Forecasts said on Friday.
"When Russia agrees to personally help maintain this pile of scrap metal, one should obviously say thank you," Rostyslav Yshchenko said, observing that Ukraine's gas transportation system will be made redundant once Russia completes construction of the Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipelines.
Earlier this week, Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller said the Russian energy giant may fund the modernization of Ukraine's gas transport system if the agreement on the merger is signed.
Ukraine's gas pipeline system, which stretches over 37,500 kilometers (23,300 miles), includes 71 booster stations and 13 underground gas storage units of 32 billion cubic meters.
The system pumps 141 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe annually. Russia's gas exports, 167 billion cubic meters last year, are forecast to hit 217 billion cubic meters this year.
Russia is already building the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which from October 2012 should be able to carry 55 billion cu m of Russian natural gas annually to Western Europe under the Baltic Sea.
The South Stream pipeline, which is still in the planning stage, is slated to go into operation by the end of 2015. It will run under the Black Sea from the Russian port city of Novorossiisk to the Bulgarian port of Varna and from there to central and southern Europe.
KIEV, May 21 (RIA Novosti)
