The decision to close the gas taps has increased tensions between Slovakia and Ukraine.
Mikko Leppänen,
Yrjö Kokkonen
10:23•Updated 11:10
The export of Russian natural gas through Ukraine to Europe ended early on Wednesday.
The reason is that the contract between the Ukrainian gas supply company Naftogas and the Russian gas company Gazprom expired on January 1.
Russian gas has flowed to Europe through Soviet-era pipelines passing through Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine, which are at war, have not reached an agreement on the continuation of gas exports.
Slovakia and Austria, for example, have bought Russian gas that came through Ukraine.
– We have stopped the transport of Russian gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its market. It suffers financial losses, the Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko said according to news agency Reuters.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry added that gas shipments were stopped based on the interests of the country’s national security.
The decision to close the gas taps has already increased tensions between Slovakia and Ukraine. Last Friday, the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico threatened to cut off the supply of electricity to Ukraine, says British broadcasting company BBC.
A spokesperson for the European Commission assured on Wednesday that the European gas infrastructure is flexible enough to provide non-Russian gas to Central and Eastern Europe.
Moldova, which is outside the EU, may suffer from the termination of the gas contract. The country’s most important power plant has been producing electricity with Russian gas. Minister of Energy of Moldova Constantin Borosan has urged citizens to save energy.
Transnistria, a pro-Russian region belonging to Moldova, had to cut off heating and hot water for at least some households on Wednesday. A representative of the local energy company told Reuters that it is not known how long the situation will continue.
Losses of billions for Russia
Ukraine is now losing at least 800 million dollars, or about 770 million euros per year, in the gas transit fees it collects from Russia.
Gazprom, on the other hand, loses almost five billion dollars, or about 4.8 billion euros, in sales revenue per year.
Russia and the former Soviet Union spent half a century capturing a large part of the European gas market. At peak times, about 35 percent of the natural gas used by Europe came from Russia.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has largely destroyed this business.
Since the start of the war, the European Union has succeeded in reducing its dependence on Russian energy. EU countries have started to buy more gas from, for example, Norway, the United States and Qatar.
Russia still transports natural gas to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline running at the bottom of the Black Sea. Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia buy gas coming through it, for example.
Source: Reuters