Kiev rejects Russia’s gas transit request

Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Thursday that it currently supplies gas for transit to Europe via the Sudzha entry point. The application for pumping through the Sokhranovka transit point has been rejected by Ukraine, according to Gazprom’s official spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov.

The company said that the volume of the gas for transit via Sudzha amounted to 50.6 million cubic meters as of May 12, which was “confirmed by the Ukrainian side.” The volume is almost 30% lower than the average, Gazprom said.

Transit through the vital Sokhranovka station, which handles up to 32.6 million cubic meters per day, or about a third of the Russian gas that flows via Ukraine to Europe, was shut down by Kiev on Wednesday. The Ukrainian gas transmission system operator said it had decided to suspend operations at Sokhranovka because of “interference by the occupying forces.”

Natural Gas Runs Through Ukraine. © The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Gazprom said it saw no reason for the disruption, adding that it couldn’t reroute supplies to Sudzha because the reconfiguration would be “technically impossible.”

The Russian company noted that it fully fulfills all obligations to European consumers, and that transit services have been paid for.

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