Caspian Report - Issue 06 - Winter 2014

third quarter of 2013 was 420 USD
per thousand cubic meters.
In October 2013 Ukraine also announced
that it was preparing to
sign an agreement with Romania on
gas imports. The Slovakian route to
Ukraine is the biggest one, so Ukraine
is still counting on the help of the European
Energy Community in order
to open this route in 2014. According
to Stavytsky, the Slovakian route
would be able to transport up to 20
bcm of gas annually to Ukraine. But
now, the Slovakian reverse gas route
is under question. There is no need
for this contract, as the price for European
gas through Slovakia would
be over 268 USD per thousand cubic
meters. Also, Slovakian operators will
think twice before signing the agreement
with any Ukrainian company, as
there is no guarantee from Ukraine
on the duration and the volumes of
gas it needs. And why should Slovakia
spoil its relations with Gazprom
if the Ukrainian contract is high risk
and without any guarantee of long
term profitability
Starting from September 2013, the
volume of imported gas from Hungary
reached 15 million cubic meters
per day. From Poland, Ukraine
was importing natural gas starting
from January 2013. Until the new
gas agreement with Russia, Ukraine
planned to increase the level of gas
imports from the EU to 7 bcm, while
decreasing gas imports from Russia
to 20 bcm (from 28 bcm in 2013).
The total annual volume of gas that
can be delivered through the reverse
supplies from Europe to Ukraine
could reach over 30 billion cubic meters,
reported the Energy Ministry in
July 2013. And such opportunities
remain open to Ukraine if Russia returns
to the policy of high gas prices.
This could still happen if a pro-Western
new government came to power,
and Ukraine were to change its foreign
policy again, in favour of signing
the Association Agreement.
AFTER THE LAUNCH OF THE SECOND PHASE TANAP-
TAP PROJECT, UKRAINE COULD IMPORT UP TO 5 BCM OF
CASPIAN GAS. IT CAN BE DELIVERED TO THE UKRAINIAN
MARKET THROUGH BULGARIA AND ROMANIA USING
EXISTING PIPELINES.
In any case, at the beginning of 2014,
Stavytsky noted that for price reasons,
Ukraine at this stage intends to
import natural gas only from Russian
Federation and not Europe. Stavytsky
also reported that Ukraine intends
to sign an agreement on reverse gas
supplies from Slovakia, as the issues
of diversification of fuel supplies to
the country remains topical despite
the agreements reached with Russia
on discounted gas price. 3 This situation
opens up Ukraine as a prospective
market for Caspian gas. After the
launch of the second phase TANAP-
TAP project, Ukraine could import
up to 5 bcm of Caspian gas. It can be
delivered to the Ukrainian market
through Bulgaria and Romania using
existing pipelines. Thus the technical
possibility for this step exists, but the
real needs of Ukrainian gas consumption
(including for the Caspian gas)
are very much unclear as the growing
47
CASPIAN REPORT, WINTER 2014
3
. Ukraine rejects reverse gas - http://www.uniworld.org.ua/en/news/%7Bnews%7D/2014/01/09/
1646.html