LONDON: Reverse flows of natural gas from Europe to Ukraine to help it handle Russian price and supply cuts would be possible within hours once the infrastructure is in place, but the flows could require approval from Russia’s Gazprom first.
Ukraine is in emergency talks with the EU on importing gas from the West, pumping gas in the opposite direction to the original design of the pipelines, following a leap in the price Gazprom charges it for supplies.
Slovakia is the EU’s best-placed country to pump gas to Ukraine should Russia cut supplies, but reversing flows along any of the four pipelines that take Russian gas to Slovakia via Ukraine would breach the terms of its contracts with state-controlled Gazprom, a spokesman for Slovak pipeline operator Eustream said.
“For a reverse flow, you would have to stop the East-West flow in one of the (four) pipelines and reverse the flow. But you would have to have approval from Gazprom,” the spokesman said.
“Gazprom does not agree with this (reverse flows), and thus it’s not an option,” he added.
Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller raised questions about the legality of reversing gas flows to Ukraine in an interview on Saturday.
Gazprom would be able to monitor whether gas is being re-exported to Ukraine because Slovakia would have to build a metering station before reverse flows can start.Reuters
