Gazprom CEO tells EC about planned amounts of gas supplies on each route to EU
VIENNA. Sept 14 (Interfax) - The CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom , Alexei Miller told European Commission Vice President in charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic about planned projects to build gas pipelines from Russia to Europe.
"As for Nord Stream II, we informed the European Commission about the documents that were signed in Vladivostok with our European partners. We noted that the project will be implemented strictly in accordance with European legislation," Miller told reporters after his meeting with Sefcovic.
Miller also said that Gazprom's joint venture with its foreign partners will hold consultations with the EC on issues concerning Nord Stream II. The shareholder agreement for the project company to build the third and fourth lines of the Nord Stream pipeline (Nord Stream II), New European Pipeline AG, was signed at the beginning of September; Gazprom will own 51% of the company, E.ON, Shell, OMV and BASF/Wintershall will each own 10%, and ENGIE will own 9%.
"We reported on our plans and the most important thing for the European Commission is that the project be implemented according to European legislation. As for the period of construction, this period is in no way related to the issues of the Third Energy Package. It has nothing to do with regulatory issues. We talked about plans, about volumes, about how consultations with the European Commission will be conducted in future," Miller said on Friday.
"We also informed the EC about the course of negotiations with Turkey on Turkish Stream and discussed issues that concern possible volumes of supplies along this route," Miller said.
He said the meeting also touched on issues concerning the contract for transit shipments of gas through Ukraine after 2019, when the transit contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukraine expires and Nord Stream II is expected to be completed.
"We noted that we are prepared to hold negotiations with Ukraine, but are not prepared to and will not sign a contract on unacceptable terms. Therefore, we will be in contact with our Ukrainian colleagues. The litigation in Stockholm is certainly a very important factor. There are no decisions from the Stockholm court. And of course a decision by the Stockholm court and subsequent implementation of these decisions will to a great extent also determine the negotiations with our Ukrainian partners on these issues in future," Miller said.
"But we have never said that we are automatically reducing the amount of transit through Ukraine to zero. Particularly since there are such countries, I'd like to mention, for example Moldova, to which gas will absolutely certainly be transported through Ukrainian territory. And this means that there will continue to be certain amounts of gas transit through Ukraine after 2019 as well," Miller said.
