The restoration of navigation on the Prypiat River will make it possible to reveal the transit potential of Ukraine through the development of a river transport corridor from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, Head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority Raivis Veckagans has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“At the initiative of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Belarus, and also with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Royal Haskoning DHV in May of this year completed a survey of navigable hydraulic structures of the E-40 waterway, connecting the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea through the Wisla River, the Zakhidny Bug (the Western Bug), the Prypiat River and the Dnipro River, in the territory of Belarus. In the near future, a working group with the participation of specialists from the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, the Dredging Fleet branch of the authority, and the State Hydrographic Service will conduct similar work on the Ukrainian stretch of the Prypiat and Dnipro rivers,” he said.
BALTIC SEA, BLACK SEA, CORRIDOR, NAVIGATION, POTENTIAL, PRYPIAT, RIVER, TRANSIT
Russia’s Gazprom has boosted gas transit to the European Union through the territory of Ukraine by 25%, by 60 million cubic meters per day, JSC Ukrtransgaz has reported.
This is related to a halt for repairing two lines of Nord Stream.
The trilateral talks in the Ukraine-Russia-European Commission format on transit of Russian gas across Ukraine in 2020 would be resumed in September 2019, Vice President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic has said.
He said in Strasbourg, speaking to deputies of the European parliament of the new convocation after the EU Summit meeting that the trilateral talks by him will be resumed in September.
Ukraine in January-May 2019 increased transit of natural gas through its gas transportation system (GTS) by 7.9% compared to the same period in 2018, to 37.628 billion cubic meters, according to recent data from JSC Ukrtransgaz. According to calculations by the Interfax-Ukraine agency, in particular transit of gas through the country to Europe for the four months amounted to 36.271 billion cubic meters (8.3% more compared to January-May 2018), to Moldova some 1.357 billion cubic meters (2.4% less).
As of late May 2019, gas transit increased by 16.5% (1.185 billion cubic meters) compared to the same month of 2018, to 8.387 billion cubic meters. In particular gas transit through Ukraine to Europe amounted to 8.209 billion cubic meters (a rise of 16.8%), Moldova some 159.5 million cubic meters (a rise of 2.3%).
Oil transit through the territory of Ukraine to European countries in 2018 decreased by 4.3% (602,400 tonnes) compared with 2017, to 13.335 million tonnes, according to Ukrtransnafta. According to Interfax-Ukraine calculations, the volume of oil pumping to the refineries of the country in 2018 increased by 0.2% (4,500 tonnes), to 2.101 million tonnes.
Thus, last year the share of transit in the total volume of oil transportation (15.436 million tonnes) amounted to 86.4%, the share of pumping to the country’s refineries was 13.6%.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was not as critical as Kyiv about the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and was in favor of Ukraine preserving its transit role after 2019. “We know that Ukraine is against this project. I am less critical about the project and I am in favor of Ukraine having guarantees, that Ukraine will preserve its transit role,” she said at a meeting with the Ukrainian parliament speaker, Andriy Parubiy, and the heads of parliamentary groups in Kyiv.
She noted that the negotiations on Nord Stream 2 are being conducted with both Russia and the European Commission. “The matter concerns creating a transit agreement. We want Ukraine to remain an important transit country,” Merkel emphasized. The chancellor noted that in addition to Nord Stream there is also TurkStream. “Thus, gas flows are expanding from Russia to the European Union, but this does not mean that we want to reject the transit role of Ukraine. I think that gas transit revenues are extremely important for the budget of Ukraine,” she said.
Merkel noted that Berlin “very seriously” considers the strategic opinion of Ukraine on the issue of Nord Stream 2. “We want to see Ukraine as a partner with respect to transit,” she said.
Prior to this, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy called on Merkel to study in more detail the arguments of Ukraine against the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
“The construction of Nord Stream 2 could bring imbalance and threaten the security of not only Ukraine but the entire European space. And this is the position of the Ukrainian parliament. I would ask that the arguments of the Ukrainian side be studied more in detail,” Parubiy said during a meeting with the German chancellor in Kyiv.
The speaker called for supporting the position of the Ukrainian parliament on the Nord Stream 2 issue.
