You're reading: Ukraine to chair Energy Community in 2014, propose construction of Central European gas hub

Kyiv will chair the Energy Community in 2014, and will put on the organization's agenda issues related to the construction of the Central European gas hub and the development of new routes for natural gas shipment. 

European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger told this to Ukrainian reporters in Brussels on Friday, after a meeting of the Council of the Energy Community took place in Belgrade on Thursday.

“Since Ukraine will chair the Energy Community in 2014, we have prepared our common agenda, the key items deal with the development of the Energy Community in 2014,” he said.

Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Eduard Stavytsky, in turn, said that Ukraine had already prepared a lot of proposals.

“These are the new routes on which we will work together with the European Commission, these are the issues of liberalization of the gas market both in Ukraine and in the central part of Europe, as well as the construction of the Central European hub based on the storage facilities in Ukraine,” Stavytsky outlined Ukraine’s priorities.

He noted that Ukraine is capable of storing up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas.

“This can be used by both the Ukrainian and the European economies,” the minister said.