the Ukrainian state company Naftogaz, Russia's Gazprom and the operator of the gas transportation system (GTS) of Ukraine signed a package of agreements necessary for the continuation of transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine for the next five years.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that "the gas contract for the next five years between Russia and Ukraine is the compromise that was necessary to find".
"Now all the issues settled mutual claims discontinued. The transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will continue on terms acceptable to all parties. The signing of the documents shows that even on the most difficult issues you can talk and negotiate," wrote Medvedev on his page on Facebook.
As told in the press service of the NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine", the Operator of the Ukrainian GTS and Gazprom signed an agreement to continue the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine until 2024 inclusive.
"the Achievement of this result became possible thanks to systematic work of the team Naftogaz aimed at explaining the risks of the construction of "Nord stream - 2", the introduction of US government sanctions against it, quality holding unbundling and effective functioning of Naftogaz in arbitration", - said in Naftogaz.
In the package included:
- mesoperfusion agreement between the Operator of Ukraine's GTS (OGTS) and Gazprom, which determines the technical regulations and the rules of interaction between operators of adjacent networks (interconnection agreement).
- the agreement on the organization of transit between Naftogaz and Gazprom, which recorded the conditions and terms of transit for the next five years.
- settlement agreement between Naftogaz and Gazprom, under which the parties waive claims under contracts of 2009.
All three agreements were signed in the course of execution of the minutes of the meeting held in Berlin and Minsk on December 19-20 this year with the participation of representatives of the EU, Ukraine and Russia, Naftogaz and Gazprom OHTSU.
Agreement, in particular, provide for:
- Payment by Gazprom 2,918 billion dollars compensation pursuant to the decision of the Stockholm arbitration in December 2017 and February 2018. Naftogaz received these funds on December 27, 2019;
- Opinion of arbitral lawsuits, which are not final decisions;
- Removing arrests on the property, assets and funds of Gazprom, as well as to abstain in future from all possible claims and claims under contracts of Jan 2009;
- Minimum transit volumes by years recorded in the following sizes: 2020 to 65 billion cubic meters, 2021 - 2024 - 40 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
Naftogaz said Gazprom's interest in future opportunities to resume gas supplies to Ukraine in keeping with the principle of pricing gas on the basis of the prices of European hub NCG. The issue of gas supplies is not a part of package agreements.
the Signed agreement also does not address the legal claims of the group companies Naftogaz of Ukraine against the Russian Federation about the captured of the group's assets in the Crimea. According to the results of signing the agreement, Ukraine will receive a guaranteed income from transit for the next five years. "The agreements signed today is the result of an acceptable compromise. The main result of the arrangements is obtaining nearly $ 3 billion from Gazprom that the Ukrainian GTS will be downloaded and will the next five years to break even work. The transit is not interrupted, it will carry out the independent certified operator. In addition, canceled numerous risks, including, for the country's financial system, which could be realized in the event of termination of transit. We are grateful to the European Commission for its consistent position, indicating the recognition of the reliability and efficiency of the Ukrainian GTS, as well as U.S. partners for the support of energy security on the European continent", - said the Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz Andrey Kobelev.
