In Kiev, called the simplest scenario of "salvation" of the Ukrainian GTS
The situation with Nord Stream 2 worries Ukraine. As the project is completed, the authorities are looking for opportunities to protect the gas transportation system, and one of the latest proposals made in the Verkhovna Rada involves repurposing the country into a gas hub. In Russia, this idea was called a "fantasy" that causes bewilderment.
Gas hub
In Ukraine, they are thinking about options for "saving" the country's gas transportation system (GTS) against the background of the completion of the construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The deal between Washington and Berlin, we recall, implies that Germany undertakes to make every effort to extend gas transit from Russia through Ukraine. Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the party "Servant of the People" Yuriy Kamelchuk, for his part, noted that the Ukrainian GTS will cease to function if there is not enough gas.
He suggested that a negative outcome of events will be avoided if Ukraine becomes the so-called "gas hub of Europe", that is, a kind of gas distribution hub (there are seven such main centers in Europe), and, for example, will supply Turkish gas from Azerbaijan or Iran.
"This is one of the simplest scenarios of what we can do," RIA Novosti quoted Kamelchuk as saying.
At the same time, the politician sees another option as the transit of reduced natural gas (LNG) by ships from Qatar. At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine in solving this problem "does not interfere with anything at all", but could not comment on what has already been done for this.
In Russia, they were extremely skeptical about such a proposal. According to Senator Alexei Pushkov, the Ukrainian authorities cannot count on becoming a European hub.
"Ukrainian global habits and gas fantasies cause a stir. What are they even talking about? What kind of gas from Iran for the Ukrainian GTS? What kind of Qatar?" — wrote a member of the Federation Council in his Telegram channel.
According to Pushkov, Ukraine has no other "gas" options but to negotiate with Russia.
"Kiev's only chance is to reach an agreement with Moscow, and without confrontation and tantrums. But - no: in Kiev still prefer to beat a penalty in their own goal," he added.
European Consortium
The idea of a gas hub is not the first that Ukrainian officials have put forward.
Earlier, the country's authorities have repeatedly proposed to create an international consortium to manage its GTS with the participation of Western companies. Advisor to the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Olena Zerkal explained that there are concerns about a possible increase in gas prices in the domestic market after the SP-2 is launched.
The consortium, according to the Ukrainian government, will put pressure on Russia, and, as Zerkal said, will force Russia to lift export restrictions for its producers. Accordingly, in this case, according to the assumption, all companies will have access to the GTS, which will subsequently form the market, and gas will cease to be an instrument of geopolitical influence - this is how Nord Stream 2 is characterized in Ukraine.
This, according to the official, guarantees the continuation of gas transit at the end of the contract with Gazprom in 2024.
Nevertheless, despite the proposals of Ukraine, the gas consortium has never been created.
Following the example of OPAL
Another area of struggle against the construction of sp-2 considered in Ukraine concerned the possible partial blocking of the gas pipeline on the basis of European legislation.
The third energy package of the EU assumes that any gas pipeline should be designed to receive gas from other suppliers. In the absence of this possibility, it is allowed to reduce the capacity of the pipeline to 50%.
According to this principle, Gazprom was limited to pumping on the intra-European opal gas pipeline - an on-land continuation of the first Nord Stream. The initiator was Poland, but soon the European Commission expanded the capacity of the pipeline, which was advocated by Germany. The Polish authorities later appealed to the European Court of Justice, after which the capacity was again reduced to 50%, citing energy solidarity, and the appeal of Germany against this decision was rejected.
That is, both OPAL and Nord Stream are now not working at full capacity. In Ukraine, they believe that the same can be done with Nord Stream 2.
Gas from Azerbaijan
The idea of Ukraine's purchase of natural gas from Asia was once again voiced after the meeting of the Ukrainian-Azerbaijani working group on cooperation in the energy sector. After him, the head of the department for work with customers of the OGTSU Andrey Prokofiev stated that there is a great interest in cooperation between oil and gas companies of Ukraine and Azerbaijan.
Transportation of gas from Azerbaijan for Ukraine is possible through the territory of Turkey and further - through the Trans-Balkan pipeline. However, this scenario seems to be the least realistic.
Recall that Baku for the first time exported its gas bypassing Russia in 2020. Azerbaijan's capacity is designed to supply Europe with about 10 billion cubic meters of fuel per year. According to experts, only Ukraine needs about as much gas, and baku's capacity to meet consumer demand is currently not enough.
The bottom line is that even with the conclusion of such a deal, Ukraine is likely to receive not Azerbaijani, but Russian gas.
"They [Azerbaijan] do not have enough gas to fulfill contracts to Europe. Can we get gas in this direction? Yeah, no problem. Only Russian gas," explained valentin Zemlyansky, an expert at the Ukrainian Energy Association, to the Obozrevatel portal, stressing that now Ukraine has no opportunity to find another gas supplier except Russia.
