Moscow Says Will Look at Demand When Deciding on Gas Transit Through Ukraine in 2024

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia will take into account consumer demand when considering whether to continue gas transit through Ukraine after 2024, Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the Department of Economic Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik.

In 2019, Russia and Ukraine signed a five-year transit contract, under which Russian energy giant Gazprom guarantees to transport 65 billion cubic meters of gas through the Ukrainian territory in the first year and 40 billion in each of the following four years. The contract expires at the end of 2024. In late October, the head of Ukrainian largest national oil and gas company Naftogaz, Oleksiy Chernyshov, said that the company would not extend its gas transit contract with Gazprom after its expiration date in 2024.

"When Russia plans its natural gas supplies, it is obviously taking into account such factors as consumer demand and the operability of the cross-border infrastructure. I believe that this logic will also be used when considering whether to continue the Ukrainian transit," Birichevsky said.

In March 2022, the European Union declared a course to abandon Russian natural gas that gave Europeans a huge competitive advantage, the diplomat said.

"Quite recently, there have been statements from Kiev about its disinterest in extending the transit contract. In this context, the question for us is, does the refusal to transit gas through Ukraine next year mean depriving Kiev of gas revenues?" he added.

Regardless of the political situation, Russian companies are committed to fulfilling all their obligations to their counterparties in Europe on energy supplies, including within the framework of the expiring five-year contract on gas transit through Ukraine, Birichevsky said.

Gas supplies via Ukraine's gas transportation system are one of the two existing routes for gas exports from Russia to other European countries.