Ukraine Ready to Store, Transport Turkish Gas to Europe

Ukraine is ready to make its underground gas storage facilities available to store Turkish gas for its further transportation to the European Union, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Igor Nasalik said Thursday.

KIEV (Sputnik) – Earlier on Thursday, Nasalik said at a ministerial meeting that Turkey was interested in the plans to privatize Ukrainian coal mines.

“The Ukrainian side, as part of the process to liberalize its energy sector is today considering the possible use of Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities by foreign companies, including Turkish ones, for the loading and storage of natural gas with the aim of further transporting it to EU countries,” Nasalik said during his meeting with Turkish Ambassador to Ukraine Yonet Can Tezel.

Ukraine lost control over most of its coal mines during the 2014 military conflict as they are primarily concentrated in the Donetsk Coal Basin, which is now mostly controlled by self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics.

In November 2015, Ukraine halted purchases of Russian gas, saying the price offered by its European partners was much lower than that offered by Moscow amid deteriorated relations with Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis and Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014.

Moreover, Naftogaz and Gazprom have been involved in legal proceedings with mutual claims since 2014 on the gas purchase contracts.