Ukraine wants to continue to provide a transit route for 80 percent of Russia's natural gas and seeks new routes to bring Central Asian gas to the European Union, says a coalition agreement between the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine - People's Self Defence.
Ukraine needs loans for the modernisation of its gas transportation network, energy saving technologies and larger underground gas storage facilities, the agreement read. The country must ensure stable deliveries of natural gas from Russia on the basis of intergovernmental agreements and sign long-term gas contracts with Central Asian states, the coalition said.
Ukraine will seek an agreement with the Iranian, Turkish, Austrian, Romanian and Bulgarian governments on its involvement in the Nabucco gas project.
Meanwhile, Vitaly Martynyuk, an analyst at the Ukrainian Independent Political Research Centre, said Ukraine could have energy problems in three years when new gas pipelines are opened to Europe that bypass its territory.
"Real energy problems could begin for Ukraine in three years in 2010 - 2011. These years have been set as the timeframe for opening new gas pipelines to Europe. All of them bypass Ukraine as well as Belarus, which will be our sister in misfortune in this sense," Interfax quoted him as saying.
The Nabucco, Blue Stream, South Stream, and Nord Stream projects are the main natural gas pipelines that will bypass Ukraine, he said.
Martynyuk said the Nabucco pipeline with capacity for up to 13 billion cubic metres a year to be built starting next year and opened in 2011 will connect Turkey to Austria through Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. The pipeline will transport Caspian and later Middle East and Turkmen natural gas to Europe. It will hook into the trans-European energy system. The pipeline will reach maximum capacity of 30 billion cubic metres in 2020.
Gazprom has suggested transporting Russian gas in the Blue Stream pipeline through the Black Sea to Turkey for transport through Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia to western Hungary. The pipeline will be opened in 2010 and will pump up to 16 billion cubic metres of gas. It will be an alternative to Russian gas transport through Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria.
Gazprom in June signed a memorandum with ENI Paolo Scaroni to build the South Stream pipeline through the Black Sea that will run from Russia's Black Sea coast to Varna, Bulgaria, through Greece and the Adriatic Sea to Italy. The pipeline will have capacity for 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year.
The Nord Stream pipeline will pump nine billion cubic metres of Russian gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea starting in 2010. It is also an alternative to transport to Western Europe bypassing Ukraine. The pipeline will be expanded to 55 billion cubic metres eventually.
Martynyuk said if you add up the possible transport of Russian gas bypassing Ukraine (up to 180 billion cubic metres including the Yamal-Europe pipeline through Belarus) and compare it to the capacity of Ukraine's gas transport system (179 billion cubic metres annually at output), Russia could completely ignore the Ukrainian gas transport system after 2011 and dictate its terms.
"This could lead to the scenario that has been mentioned so many times - Gazprom could buy the Ukrainian gas transport system and put natural gas prices on the European level of USD 230 per 1,000 cubic metres," Interfax quoted him as saying.