Naftogaz Files Complaint to the European Commission against Gazprom

Naftogaz filed a complaint to the European Commission against Gazprom for abuses of dominance in European gas markets, Sais the Facebook statement of the Ukrainian company. The statement notes that thanks to the Nord Stream 2 project and control on the European gas market, Gazprom abuses its position and limits competition. Vitrenko noted that the complaint proposed mechanisms for solving problems. Naftogaz claims that the positive decision on the complaint will allow Ukraine to keep the income from transit of the Russian gas to Europe. A possible loss of transit could mean a loss of four per cent of a country’s GDP. Earlier, the head of Naftogaz Andrey Kobolev said that Gazprom informed on the termination of oil transit through Ukraine early next year. However, he then said that Russia will start negotiations on the extension of transit after the elections in Ukraine. The current ten-year contract for gas transit in Europe through Ukraine expires in 2019. According to Kobolev, the gas transportation system of Ukraine will be completely unclaimed after the commissioning of the Nord stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines. Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak said that Moscow is not interested in the gas transit through Ukrainian territory. According to him, due to the outdated gas transportation system, the Ukrainian direction is two and a half times more expensive than other routes. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow is ready to maintain gas transit through Ukraine, but on its own terms. However, Naftogaz called them “unacceptable”. Now Ukraine is suing Gazprom in international arbitration. Kiyv demands 10 billion dollars from Moscow for possible termination of transit next year. Svoboda.org