Bloomberg: Gazprom Gas Pipeline Projects Mean ‘Zero’ Need for Ukraine

OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas export monopoly, claimed that slated pipeline projects, such as seabed lines directly to the European Union, will eliminate reliance on Ukraine to transit the fuel to Europe.

“South Stream to full capacity, Nord Stream with additional lines and our existing capacity through Belarus and the Black Sea will reduce Ukraine’s importance for transit to zero,” Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in an e-mailed statement today.

Ukraine ships as much as 80 percent of Russia’s Europe- bound gas through its Soviet-era pipeline network. Disputes over the cost of Russian gas to Ukraine and its transit led to a halt in supplies to Europe in the winter of 2009. Ukraine is now seeking price reductions from Gazprom.  MORE