“The transit of Azerbaijani gas through the territory of Ukraine to Europe will not protect the Ukrainian gas transportation system from the shelling of the Russian Federation.”, — write: www.epravda.com.ua
The transit of Azerbaijani gas through the territory of Ukraine to Europe will not protect the Ukrainian gas transportation system from the shelling of the Russian Federation.
This is the opinion of Serhii Makogon, General Director of “Operator of the Gas Transport System of Ukraine” LLC in 2019-2022, transmits “Interfax-Ukraine”.
“There is such an argument – the Russians will not strike on the GTS of Ukraine as long as there is a transit of Azerbaijani gas. What is their interest in not striking if it is actually Azerbaijani gas? The only argument is that there will be Russian gas there, even under the guise of Azerbaijani gas,” he said. during a press conference at the Media Center of Ukraine in Kyiv.
At the same time, he noted that even under such conditions, the Russians will not stop in their intentions to destroy the energy sector of Ukraine, in particular the gas sector, since the transit gas pipeline is only a part of the extensive and powerful GTS of Ukraine: “But we have no guarantees that if transit is preserved, the Russians will not be beaten GTS”.
“They have already spent $15 billion to damage our electric power industry, there were six waves of missile attacks on the GTS in the west of Ukraine. Yes, there were no such attacks on the GTS, as, for example, on the TPP, but this does not mean that they regret it, – they just don’t have enough missiles.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that even with significant damage to the GTS, it is able to perform its functions, for which various appropriate response scenarios have been developed.
According to him, it would still make sense to continue gas transit from the Russian Federation even under the guise of Azerbaijani gas, if Ukraine, on its part, set certain conditions, for example, the return of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by the Russians and a guarantee not to hit the power grid.
“And if we are now offered the transit of supposedly Azerbaijani gas, and everyone understands that it is actually Russian gas, then it seems to me that this is just an agreement that will allow the Russians to continue earning $5 billion every year, for which they will strengthen their armaments,” Makogon emphasized.
He emphasized that in order to replace 14 billion cubic m, which are currently exported from the Russian Federation to Europe via Ukraine, Azerbaijan needs to double the volume of gas exports, which it does not have the capacity to do.
Makogon also believes that Europe is by no means interested in continuing transit from the Russian Federation, as it intends to completely get rid of Russian gas by 2027, the share of which has already decreased in recent years from 45% to 15%, and Ukrainian transit is only 5% of the total European import
We will remind:
Ukraine is conducting negotiations on the supply of natural gas from Azerbaijan to the European Union, seeking to maintain its role as a transit country and help its western neighbors guarantee energy security.