Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has requested NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine to allow a 20% increase in gas passing through Ukraine, Naftogaz reported on its website.
”Today, Gazprom has increased its gas transmission order via Ukraine to Europe by 20%. The volume requested for transmission equals 282 million cubic meters per day. The increase is several times higher than the level stipulated in the contract between Naftogaz and the Russian company. Despite this, Ukraine intends to fulfill the order,” the company said in a statement.
Naftogaz reports that the abrupt increase in the transmission order has been caused by an outage in the OPAL pipeline joining the Nord Stream with gas transmission systems in Germany and Central Europe.
Naftogaz also notes that Gazprom has failed to ensure appropriate pressure levels at the Pysarivka entry point, where the pressure has been 67.4 atm, which is 2.6 atm lower than the level called for in the contract. At the Sudzha entry point, the pressure is at the level called for in the contract.
”In 2014, Gazprom unilaterally refused the balancing services offered by Ukrtransgaz to manage situations, like the current one. By fulfilling the sharply increased order, Ukraine aims to demonstrate that it is a reliable transit partner for the EU,” Naftogaz emphasized.
The company also noted that between January to August 2016, European consumers received 50.2 billion cubic meters of gas via the Direct Stream, Ukraine`s gas transmission system. With a 19% increase in transmitted volumes, as compared to the same period of the previous year, the Direct Stream remains the key route for Russian gas entering the EU, the company said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in August Russia`s Gazprom sent a request to Ukraine`s Ukrtransgaz, to increase the gas transit volume traveling through Ukraine, due to repairs on the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Then, Ukrtransgaz confirmed the implementation of gas transit applications within the contractual obligations, but the Russian side was reported to not carry out necessary measures to comply with the contractual pressure levels at border gas metering stations.
Earlier, Naftogaz stated that frequent violations of terms of the gas transit contract by Gazprom in terms of ensuring proper gas pressure in the Ukrainian gas transportation system undermines the stability of gas transit to the European Union.
