Ukraine remains the most important transistor of Russian natural gas to the European Union, European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger has said.
During a joint press conference with Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Boiko in Kyiv on Sept. 29, Oettinger said that at the moment the EU annually consumes 500 billion cubic meters of gas and, according to forecasts, its gas consumption would increase to 600 billion cubic meters in future.
He added that out of the 500 billion cubic meters of gas, 125 billion cubic meters are delivered from Russia, and 80% of this gas is transited via the Ukrainian gas transporting system.
If gas consumption in EU increases by 100 billion cubic meters, a share of Russian natural gas will go up by 25-30%.
Oettinger noted that if such forecasts were realized, Ukraine would remain the most important transistor.
For this reason, Ukraine should modernize its gas transporting system, the EU commissioner said.
