Rusland ageert tegen gasakkoord EU-Oekraïne (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has attacked a new EU-Ukraine deal to involve the EU more deeply in Ukraine gas transit.

The Brussels-Kiev pact was signed by the European Commission, the Ukrainian government and international investment banks at a major conference in Brussels on Monday (23 March).

It envisages €2.5 billion of investment in Ukraine's pipeline system by 2016 in return for making Ukraine gas distributor Naftogaz operate in line with EU energy market laws.

The commission, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank will also take part in the creation of a new Naftogaz "co-ordination unit."

Ukraine expects the first tranches of the EU loans to be paid out by early 2010, eventually boosting transit capacity from 140 billion cubic metres of gas a year to 200 billion cubic metres.

Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko and the deputy chief of Russian gas company Gazprom, Valery Golubev, took part in the Brussels event as observers.

Speaking to media at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr Putin criticised the EU for taking a "unilateral" approach in dealings with its former vassal.

"To discuss questions of supplies without the main supplier [Russia] is simply not serious," he said. "If this is the start of an attempt to systematically ignore the interests of the Russian Federation then that is very bad."

"If Russia's interests are ignored, we will also have to start reviewing the fundamentals of our relations [with the EU]."

Russian interests

The Naftogaz reforms could impact Russian commercial interests by changing the way Ukraine charges Russia for transit of its gas to the EU.

The transit fee for 2009 was fixed in an opaque deal that saw Ukraine take gas stocks owned by Gazprom subsidiary RosUkrEnergo in lieu of payment and another Gazprom offshoot, Gazprom Sbyt, get a 25 percent share in Ukraine domestic gas distribution.

The EU-Ukraine pact also strikes at Russian plans to sideline Ukraine by building two new pipelines directly to the EU, Nord Stream and South Stream.

"A lot is said about alternative supply routes bypassing Ukraine, but building new pipelines costs tens of billions of euros," Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in Brussels.

Politically speaking, the gas investment is a sign of Western solidarity with Ukraine during the economic crisis.

"We want to help with all the instruments at our disposal - to find a way through the crisis and to provide a foundation for the sustained growth you need to maintain your recovery. Today's conference should certainly be seen as part of a broader package," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.

Open wound

The EU-Ukraine pact comes two months after a Russia-Ukraine gas price row caused major disruptions to EU customers, with Russia at the time claiming Ukraine was siphoning off EU-bound gas.

One of the potential new investments is to install metering stations to keep an eye on what happens to gas in Ukraine pipes.

The EU in January sent 22 gas monitors to Russia and Ukraine pumping stations. Two experts, one in Moscow and one in Kiev, are still in place amid EU fears that Russia-Ukraine energy relations remain fragile.

The commission is also following a legal case in Sweden that could impair Naftogaz' ability to pay Russia, with RosUkrEnergo shareholder Dmitry Firtash planning to sue Naftogaz for up to $4 billion (€3 billion) over the 2009 transit fee deal.

"It would be interesting if the EU gave funding to an organisation that had just expropriated assets valued at almost $4 billion from a foreign company," Robert Shetlar-Jones, the CEO of Mr Firtash's holding company, Group DF, said.