Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Prodan in a letter to European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger proposed that a working group consisting of representatives of the European Union is created to monitor natural gas transit, the ministry's press service reported on Thursday.
According to the document, this will allow representatives of the EU
at gas metering stations and dispatch points to monitor the process of
fulfilling Ukraine’s liabilities on gas transportation.
Prodan also said that it is required to strengthen the guarding of
gas transport system infrastructure to prevent possible subversive acts.
“We’re strengthening the guarding of gas transport system
infrastructure to prevent possible subversive acts. Unfortunately, we
assess the risk of such acts as very high in the present situation,”
reads the letter to the commissioner.
He noted that despite of calls of the European commissioner to
prevent escalation of the problem by Russia, Gazprom at 0900 Kyiv time
on June 16 stopped supplying natural gas to Ukraine.
“Of course, this creates the extreme situation in providing of
Ukrainian consumers with gas and ensuring stable gas transit to the EU.
As we promised, we’ll try to ensure stability and continuity of transit.
We’ll do this for as long as it is technologically possible,” Prodan
said.
The minister said he appreciated Oettinger’s and representatives of
the European Commission efforts to settle the current problems in gas
supplies.
“We haven’t reached agreement with the third party of the
negotiations. The only reason is the absence of a constructive approach
in Russia. We’re ready to continue our joint efforts to overcome the
crisis,” Prodan said.
