[Cid_Yama]

Ukraine put forward certain demands that run counter to Russia's position when it signed the monitoring deal with the EU, adding a handwritten note that attached an additional declaration to the document.

"Such conditions make a mockery of common sense and are a violation of agreements we reached earlier," President Dmitry Medvedev said. "Such actions are meant to thwart the agreement to monitor the gas transits - they are blatantly provocative and destructive."

Speaking by telephone to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Putin said Kiev's new demands drastically changed the three-party agreement and dealt with commercial disputes between Russia and Ukraine rather than the transit of gas to Europe.
link

[Cid_Yama]

<b>Yushchenko backs down, submits to gas monitors</b>

Kiev has signed a new version of the protocol on control over gas transit, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a session of the government presidium on Monday.

“This was done earlier today. The deputy chairman of Gazprom’s board flew to Kiev and coordinated this document with Ukrainian partners, and they signed it,” Putin said.

“Now this document is on its way to Brussels, where representatives of the European Commission must sign it,” Putin added. According to the prime minister, “after that, independent observers must go to the sites specified in the document. After they arrive at the control sites and we make sure that they can monitor the transit of natural gas, Gazprom will feed gas to the Ukrainian gas-transmission system for its transit to Europe.”
link

Eurocommissioner for energy Andris Piebalgs has put the last signature under the protocol on monitoring Russian gas supplies.

"Today, the last signature was put under the rules of monitoring the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine. The document was signed by European Commission commissar for energy Andris Piebalgs," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told reporters after the signing ceremony.
link

[dissident]

Not so fast!

January 13, 2009, 0:52

Ukraine’s new stunt threatens gas settlement

Ukraine is demanding that Russia supply ‘process gas’ (maintenance gas needed to keep product flowing through the pipes) before it can guarantee the uninterrupted transit of supplies to Europe. However, Gazprom has dismissed the idea, saying Ukraine will to pay for process gas or buy it elsewhere.

Analysts say this latest twist in the ongoing saga may jeopardise supplies to Europe once again.

The key document regulating the monitoring of gas supplies from Russia to Europe has been already been signed by the the parties involved: Russia, Ukraine and the EU.

European officials hoped that was the last obstacle before supplies of Russian gas began flowing back to EU customers.

For more on the background to the gas crisis please follow the link.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Naftogaz, Valentin Zemlyansky, claims his company will be forced to continue siphoning off some of Russia’s gas earmarked for Europe to use for transit purposes.

However, Gazprom says all Ukraine’s costs are included in the transit fee – and that included the payment for ‘process gas’.

“Process gas is available at every gas supplier in the world […], it should be bought and not siphoned off illegally,” Gazprom’s spokesperson Sergey Kupriyanov said.

He also expressed fears that this latest hitch might provoke a new crisis with gas supplies to Europe.

Link

[Cid_Yama]

What a frakin' dildo. Somebody needs to take out Yushchenko.

[Pretorian]

Ukraine is demanding that Russia supply ‘process gas’ (maintenance gas needed to keep product flowing through the pipes) before it can guarantee the uninterrupted transit of supplies to Europe. However, Gazprom has dismissed the idea, saying Ukraine will to pay for process gas or buy it elsewhere.

Seriously, why should Ukraine pay for it or buy it elsewhere if there is no agreement on a price of transit whatsoever?

[Tanada]

Ukraine is demanding that Russia supply ‘process gas’ (maintenance gas needed to keep product flowing through the pipes) before it can guarantee the uninterrupted transit of supplies to Europe. However, Gazprom has dismissed the idea, saying Ukraine will to pay for process gas or buy it elsewhere.

Seriously, why should Ukraine pay for it or buy it elsewhere if there is no agreement on a price of transit whatsoever?

You are kidding right? Ukraine signed a contract to transfer gas at price X. They decided price X was too low but instead of working diligently to renegotiate the price they siphon off gas instead. Nowhere on Earth does that kind of behavior succeed long term.

[dissident]

As already noted:

1) Ukraine signed contracts valid through 2010 in 2006 for the transit of gas to the EU. These transit contracts included the cost of process gas, for obvious reasons. Ukraine conceded in 2006 that it would be paying full market price for gas in a few years (not a few millenia).

2) On January 6, 2009 Ukraine threw a tantrum and decided to rip up the 2006 transit agreements using the fig leaf of a Kiev court. Ukraine is obligated to take its contract disputes to the Stockholm arbitration court just as is Russia.

3) The transit contracts have nothing to do with the gas purchase contracts that expire at the end of each calendar year. Ukraine decided that Russia's offer of gas for $250 per tcm for 2009 was too high and did not sign a new contract for 2009.

4) Ukraine is now admitting openly that it shut off the four transit pipelines on January 6th and 7th because it was pissed at Russia for not selling it gas for $200 per tcm. SGS has proof that Ukraine was responsible for first siphoning and then closing the pipelines, so this admission is really not out of the goodness of Yushenko's heart.

[dissident]

January 13, 2009, 15:32

Ukraine refuses to transport Russian gas to Europe?

Gazprom says Ukraine has closed its transit pipelines, which are to transport Russian fuel further to European consumers, even though Russia is pumping gas as it was agreed earlier.

According to Russia’s energy giant, this contradicts all the agreements reached by both the two countries and the EU.

Gazprom Deputy CEO Aleksandr Medvedev said that under these conditions there is no physical ability for the company to transport gas to Europe via Ukraine, and the responsibility for that is ‘totally with the Ukrainian side’.

He added that the European Commission representatives have defined the situation as force majeure. “The Ukrainian side has cynically informed us that their gas transporting system has been redirected to inner consuming. In this case any gas pumped into their system will not reach European customers,” Aleksandr Medvedev said.

Link

[StormBringer]

Gas Flow Problem

__________
Storm

[Pretorian]

Ukraine is demanding that Russia supply ‘process gas’ (maintenance gas needed to keep product flowing through the pipes) before it can guarantee the uninterrupted transit of supplies to Europe. However, Gazprom has dismissed the idea, saying Ukraine will to pay for process gas or buy it elsewhere.

Seriously, why should Ukraine pay for it or buy it elsewhere if there is no agreement on a price of transit whatsoever?

You are kidding right? Ukraine signed a contract to transfer gas at price X.

No, I 'm not. No, she didn't. There is no contract for gas transit valid in 2009. Care to cough up one?

[dissident]

"He explained that Naftogaz of Ukraine would not be able to accept Gazprom's suggestion for 76.6m cubic meters of gas to be transited through the Sudzha station to Moldova and the Balkans. "The gas transportation system works as a single whole. If we accept this suggestion, we will leave the Lugansk, Donetsk, Odessa, and part of the Dnepropetrovsk region without gas," Dubina stated. This is why the gas is not being directed to Europe, he said, explaining that the fuel had arrived at the Sudzha station, but Ukraine had no technical capability to turn on the valves."

Link

What a gem of drivel! There is absolutely no physical reason why all of the nodes in a pipeline network need to be filled for the system to function. This claim by Naftogaz is inanity of the purest form: have these political hacks heard of valves?

[Cid_Yama]

<b>European Commission says Ukraine blocking resumed gas flows</b>

The European Commission has confirmed reports that Ukraine is blocking gas meant to flow to European Union markets.

Russian gas company Gazprom said the Ukrainians were blocking gas again destined for Europe. Earlier Gazprom officials ordered the resumption of gas supplies through Ukraine to Europe following an EU-brokered monitoring deal.
link

<b>Russian gas stolen in Ukrainian gas transportation system - Gazprom</b>

Russian gas has been stolen after being pumped into Ukraine's gas transportation system, an official spokesman for Russian energy giant Gazprom said.

Under Monday's deal with the European Union and Ukraine, Gazprom on Tuesday resumed pumping gas into Ukraine for transit to Europe. However, the transit gas did not reach Europe.

"This can mean only one thing - the Russian gas that is currently in Ukraine's transit pipelines has been stolen," Sergei Kupriyanov said.

He said Gazprom has received today a request from Ukraine for at least 140 million cubic meters of gas to ensure transit. "That is what they said: to refill the transit pipeline."

Valentin Zemlyanskiy, a spokesman for Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, warned on Monday that Ukraine would continue using Russian gas being transited to European countries for technical purposes. However, Gazprom said Ukraine should either use its own "technical" gas, or buy it if the company lacks its own resources.

Kupriyanov said Gazprom is yet to establish the total volume tapped by Ukraine, saying that it had siphoned off 140 million cubic meters intended for the Balkan region alone.

A deputy CEO of Gazprom said Gazprom and its European customers would demand reimbursement from Ukraine for the halt in gas transit.

"We will use the entire legal arsenal. Not only will we demand payment of damages, but many consumer countries will too," Alexander Medvedev told journalists.
link

[Cid_Yama]

<b>Ukraine refuses to transport Russian gas to Europe</b>

Gazprom says Kiev has made it impossible for Russia to export gas to its European consumers. It has also not allowed international observers into its gas measuring facilities.

According to Russia’s energy giant, this contradicts all the agreements reached by both the two countries and the EU.

Gazprom Deputy CEO Aleksandr Medvedev said that under these conditions there is no physical ability for the company to transport gas to Europe via Ukraine, and the responsibility for that is ‘totally with the Ukrainian side’.

He added that the European Commission representatives have defined the situation as force majeure. “The Ukrainian side has cynically informed us that their gas transporting system has been redirected to inner consuming. In this case any gas pumped into their system will not reach European customers,” Aleksandr Medvedev said. link

[Pretorian]

Putin explained the reason for current blackmail: he wants Ukrainian transit system up for an auction. As Times warned in 1982, previos energy blackmails (Albania, Yugoslavia, China) by Soviet Union weren't the last ones.

[Cid_Yama]

Looks like Russia has basically written it off. Gazprom declared force majeure on deliveries requiring routing through Ukraine. They are not going to worry about it now. They will route what they can through alternate routes.

If Europe wants gas, it's between them and Ukraine. They may just have to hope for an early spring.

Yushchenko is an angus and is now responsible for many deaths across Europe.

<i>The crisis could have been averted, he said, if Yushchenko had not vetoed a New Year's Eve deal negotiated by Tymoshenko with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on gas prices for 2009 and getting rid of a Swiss-based intermediary company, RosUkrEnergo, which sells all Russian gas to Ukraine.

Yushchenko denied that version of events on Tuesday and insisted he had no links to any gas supply intermediaries.</i>
link

[dissident]

Kiev continues to block Russian gas supply to Europe

International monitors have confirmed that Ukraine is blocking Russian gas supplies to Europe.

The members of an international monitoring commission in Kiev - Julius Skach (SPP), Sergei Bazaleyev (Gazprom Export), Peter Zachorski (Estrim), Alain Rossignol (Gaz de France Suez), and Roberto Merlo (EU) – have all signed an hourly report which shows that no gas was being pumped via Ukraine’s pipelines to Europe, while pressure at Russia’s Sudzha station reached 70 atmospheres, Gazprom reported.

A similar hourly report was also signed by international monitors (Johan Haumer of OMV and Gazprom Export’s Oleg Antonov) at the Uzhgorod station.

Earlier, Gazprom received Naftogaz of Ukraine’s refusal to transit gas to Slovakia via the Uzhgorod pipeline. “We have received another refusal from Naftogaz of Ukraine. This time it refused to let Russian gas into its Uzhgorod corridor. We have requested the daily transit of 22.2 million cubic meters of gas, from the Sudzha station to the Uzhgorod station, destined for Slovakia, where the situation is particularly difficult, but Naftogaz rebuffed our request - again,” Medvedev lamented.

As in the case with the blockage of gas supplies to the Balkan region, Ukraine demands some “long-term transit guarantees,” according to Medvedev.

“There is a contract for the transit of Russian gas valid until 2013, and there are monitoring rules signed by all parties; what other guarantees do they want? It is clear to everyone that it is time for Ukraine to make good on its promises,” he emphasized.

Gazprom resumed gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, in accordance with its agreements with the EU and Ukraine. Gazprom delivered the gas to the Sudzha metering station. The company planned to supply 76.6 million cubic meters of gas to the Baltic countries and 22.2 million cubic meters to Slovakia, but Ukraine did not open the taps.

Link

[dissident]

Yushchenko insists on gas price of $205 for Ukraine
21:35 | 14/ 01/ 2009

WARSAW, January 14 (RIA Novosti) - President Viktor Yushchenko has insisted that Ukraine should pay $205 per 1,000 cubic meters for Russian gas and said the price for Slovakia should be no higher than $218.

"Subtracting the transit fee from the price Germany pays for Russian gas, the gas price for Ukraine should be $205 at the entry point in 2009," said Yushchenko, currently on a one-day working visit to Poland.

Russian energy giant Gazprom earlier said that since Ukraine had refused an earlier preferential price of $250 per 1,000 cubic meters it would now have to pay "the average European market price of $450-470."

Polish President Lech Kaczynski supported his Ukrainian counterpart saying that "the gas crisis that has swept Europe is linked to Russian policies."

Gazprom gave the go-ahead on Tuesday morning to resume gas deliveries via Ukraine, halted January 7 over a dispute with Kiev. However, no Russian gas was delivered through Ukraine to European consumers leading Moscow to accuse Kiev of blocking the gas deliveries.

Yushchenko denied on Tuesday that Kiev was blocking Russian gas transits to Europe or stealing gas, following a failure by Russia to make a test delivery through Ukraine.

Link

[dissident]

Moldova resents Ukraine's gas supply allegations

RBC, 15.01.2009, Chisinau 12:26:39.

Moldova has called head of Naftogaz of Ukraine Oleg Dubina's allegations that Ukraine had supplied 1.2bn cubic meters of natural gas to the country "absurd." Dubina countered Russia's accusations that Ukraine had siphoned off gas bound for Europe by asserting that Ukraine had carried it to Moldova through the Sudzha gas pumping station when Russia resumed gas shipments on January 13, 2009. According to a source in the Moldovan government, however, Moldova's annual gas imports total 1.4bn cubic meters of gas, and with only limited gas storage capacity, the republic could not have consumed 1.2bn cubic meters of gas in such a short period. As was reported earlier, gas supplies to Moldova were cut off on January 7, 2009. Since January 11, 2009, Ukraine has been pumping small gas volumes to cover Moldova's minimum demand (roughly 1.5m cubic meters) to Moldova from its own storages through Alexeyevka, a checkpoint in the north of the country. However, the pipeline does not reach 16 locations in Moldova, including Transnistria.

Link

[dissident]

Naftogaz again refuses to transit Russian gas to EU- Gazprom
12:33 | 15/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW, January 15 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's national energy company Naftogaz has for a third time refused to transit Russian gas to European consumers, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said on Thursday.

Last night Gazprom sent Naftogaz another application for the transit of 99.2 million cubic meters of gas through the Sudzha entry point on Thursday. The volume included 13.9 million cu m of gas for Moldova, 63.1 million cu m for the Balkans and 22.2 million cu m for Slovakia.

"The response contained a refusal to transit gas over the absence of a technical gas transfer agreement for 2009," Gazprom said, urging Naftogaz to honor its gas transit commitments.

Some 18 EU countries have been affected by the stoppage of Russian gas supplies through Ukraine, which transits some 80% of Russia's exports to Europe. An EU-brokered deal to resume supplies on Tuesday also resulted in failure after Russia's attempts to pump gas through the Ukrainian network were unsuccessful.

The prime ministers of Russia, Moldova, Slovakia and Bulgaria held talks in Moscow on Wednesday to try and find a resolution to the gas dispute and Ukraine's refusal to transit Russian gas to Europe, which Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said had cost Gazprom $1.2 billion in lost revenue.

Robert Fico, the Slovakian premier, whose country has been severely affected by the gas dispute, told a press conference that he saw no quick end to the crisis which he described as a "deep political row."

Russia said its gas exit points have been opened for three days now with gas pressure along the export pipeline sufficient to allow for the immediate resumption of gas transits to Europe.

Link

[Pretorian]

Dissi, can you tell us if Russia was ever wrong in its history? Not stupid or dull, but genuinely evil?