In my previous posting I wrote about the new admininstration's efforts to cut out the non transparent middlemen who supply most of Ukraine's gas. By doing so the administration is treading on the toes of some of the most powerful people in Russia. Similar efforts in Summer 2005 caused president Yushchenko to sack Tymoshenko during her first stint as PM after just 7 months of her being in office.
UkrHazEnerho's response on their official website declares the company will fulfil all of its obligations to customers in supplying natural gas, "despite the attempts of the national commission for regulating electric power [NKRE] to destabilized the situation."
"We are forced to state that the groundless acts of the NKRE could lead to the non fulfulment of balance of supply and allocation of natural gas throughout Ukraine and to breaches in Ukraine's transit responsibilities."
[The English language version of their site is not yet up-to-date]
Europeans are getting worried about the gas which passes through Ukrainian pipelines to their markets already - see here and here. How far Ukraine's energy regulator could go to enforce reduced gas quotas to UkrGazEnergo is not clear.
Oh, and "Naftohaz Ukrainy's" creditors will have to be repaid eventually too...More on this at the excellent 'Kremlin Inc. blog.
p,s, Additional background info on UkrGasEnergo can be found in Vladimir Socor's February 2006 EDM article "UkrGasEnergo - a new Russian-Ukrainian venture to dominate Ukraine's gas market" here
1 comment:
Who are the people in Russia whose toes are being stepped on?
And why should only two or three individuals in Russia collect billions of dollars at the expense of the bankruptcy of Ukrainian NaftoHaz?
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