12 August 2014
State natural gas production and transit monopoly Naftogaz (NAFTO) has not ruled out a possible ban on gas transit services provided “to certain counteragents” should the Ukrainian parliament pass the On Sanctions bill in today’s session. If a certain company is sanctioned, gas transit services can be provided to any “other company” upon the signing of a respective contract, Naftogaz explained in its Aug. 11 press release. Currently, the only “counteragent” to whom Naftogaz provides gas transit services is Russia’s Gazprom.
Naftogaz remains a reliable transporter of gas though Ukrainian territory and is ready to remain so in the future, according to the release.
Alexander Paraschiy: Note that Gazprom is outside any currently valid sanctions list adopted by Western countries against Russian business. The probability of its inclusion in Ukraine’s sanctions list looks low to us. We believe the sanction would be imposed only if Ukraine gets agreement from the EU side on: 1) declining to construct new pipelines from Russia to the EU bypassing Ukraine; and/or 2) EU countries’ purchasing gas on the Russian/Ukrainian border instead of the Ukraine/EU border.
It seems this second option is being tested by Naftogaz currently: any EU-based company can become an “other company” for whom Naftogaz is ready to provide gas transit service, according to its press-release.