OREANDA-NEWS. As Sergei Makogon, the head of the Ukrainian GTS Operator, said, Gazprom has just reduced transit of gas through Ukraine. The volume of gas has descreased from about 180 million cubic meters per day at the end of December 2020 to about 130 million cubic meters per day at the beginning of January 2021.

As Sergei Makogon wrote himself, the Ukrainian GTS Operator is ready to provide more transit with appropriate requests from Gazprom.

Russia and Ukraine at the end of December 2019 signed some agreements on the continuation of gas transit through Ukraine, including a transit contract for the period for five years. According to signed agreements, Gazprom guarantees the pumping of 65 billion cubic meters of gas in the first year and 40 billion in the next four. These agreements ensured the continuation of transit from January 1, 2020 after the expiration of the previous contract.

As the press service of the Ukrainian GTS Operator reported in December, the total gas transit to Europe in 2020 decreased to 55.8 billion cubic meters, which is 38 percent less than in 2019, while Gazprom has already fully paid for the entire volume ordered capacities under the contract.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian company, the main factors explaining the decrease in transit volumes to Europe were the launch of new gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine, as well as a decrease in demand for blue fuel in the EU and significant gas reserves in European UGS facilities.

In early December, the head of the Ukrainian GTS Operator, Serhiy Makogon, said that gas transit from Russia through Ukraine since the beginning of 2020 amounted to 50 billion cubic meters, and by the end of the year this volume could reach 55.5-56 billion. The head of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, Andriy Kobolev, said in September that Gazprom would pay about $ 2 billion to Ukraine for gas transit in 2020.

Also, according to the protocol on gas cooperation, Gazprom and Naftogaz may consider direct gas supplies to Ukraine at a discount from the price of the European hub (NCG), depending on volumes. However, no such negotiations have been reported yet.