Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed into law a bill on Ukraine's natural gas market.
“In following the strategic course of deoligarchizing the country, the president has just signed a law on the natural gas market,” presidential spokesman Sviatoslav Tseholko wrote on Twitter.
The bill had been passed by parliament on April 9. The legislature approved an amendment banning the use of state-owned gas pipelines by private operators free of charge. It is allowed, however, to lease gas distribution systems.
The main declared purpose of the law is to create a truly competitive gas market on the basis of criteria set by European Union legislation, including two 2009 documents of the European Parliament and the EU Council – Directive 2009/73/EC “concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas” and Regulation (EC) No. 715/2009 “on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks.”
According to lawmaker Ostap Semerak, the law on the gas market is one of the International Monetary Fund’s conditions for approving a new $17.5 billion extended fund facility for Ukraine.
Earlier, the chief executive of Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolev, said that, after bringing its gas legislation into line with European standards, Ukraine would be able to seek joining the European Energy Union.
