Naftogaz Ukrainy has said that Gazprom is hampering the process of merging Ukraine's energy systems with those of its European Union neighbors, which could help start virtual reverse flows of natural gas.
“For years Gazprom’s dominating position on the Ukrainian market and in several EU countries has been causing damage to Naftogaz. Now Gazprom is refusing to provide Naftogaz with information about shipping code pairs, thereby thwarting the process of merging Ukraine’s energy systems with those of its European neighbors in accordance with the EU energy regulations. Such a merger would enable virtual reverse flows of natural gas (the so-called back-haul) between Ukraine, on one part, and Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, on the other,” Naftogaz said in a statement released on Wednesday evening after the European Commission voiced its grievances to Gazprom.
Because of Gazprom’s actions, the possibility of EU natural gas suppliers accessing Ukrainian market is still limited, Naftogaz Ukrainy also said.
“This situation is the result of the anti-competition actions by Gazprom which performs certain key functions of a gas transit system operator in Slovakia and has refused to provide Naftogaz with shipping codes, thereby preventing operators of the related gas transit systems from bringing their relations in line with the EU laws,” the company said.
Gazprom’s violation of the competition principles extends beyond Ukrainian markets, the company also said.
“Naftogaz and the operator of the Ukrainian gas transportation system, Ukrtransgaz, have received requests from European gas traders to organize gas flows across Ukraine among Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Thus, because of Gazprom’s anti-competition behavior, today EU companies are left with no possibility to use the existing Ukrainian infrastructure for trading on the EU markets and beyond,” the Ukrainian company said.
