KYIV. Jan 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Executive Office of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko has said that the fall in transit of Russian natural gas in first days of January 2020 is linked to expectations that the agreements on gas transit would not be achieved, while they were achieved late on December 30.

"Since the beginning of this month, transit volumes have fallen significantly, because Gazprom, Naftogaz, and European consumers expected that there would be no transit starting January 1, so they were not ready to fully load the system," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

At the same time, Vitrenko recalled that according to the agreements reached, Gazprom pays for the reservation of capacities of the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS), regardless of their use.

As reported, transit of natural gas through the GTS of Ukraine on January 1, 2020 amounted to 49.3 million cubic meters, which is 81.1% less than the average daily rate for December 2019 (261 million cubic meters), or 77.8% lower compared to December 31 (220.1 million cubic meters).

The transit contract concluded in 2009 between Naftogaz Ukrainy and NJSC Gazprom expired at 9:00 on January 1, 2020. A new agreement between Naftogaz and Gazprom on the organization of transportation, a transport agreement between Naftogaz and GTSOU, as well as an interconnection agreement between GTSOU and Gazprom were signed late on December 30, 2019, following the results of the trilateral gas negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the European Commission.

The agreement provides for the transit of at least 65 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in 2020, which is 178 million cubic meters per day. In 2021-2024, transit will amount to 40 billion cubic meters. Payment for these volumes is guaranteed even in case of less pumping through the Ukrainian GTS.