Ukraine in Arabic | Hungery halted reverse natural gas supplies to Ukraine
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Hungary’s gas operator FGSZ Ltd. has suspended gas supplies to Ukraine for an indefinite period of time, the company said on Thursday.
"On September 25, at 17.55 Kyiv time, Ukrainian gas transport system (GTS) operator Ukrtransgaz received a statement by email from Hungarian GTS operator FGSZ on the termination of gas supply from 19.00 for technical reasons 'until further notice.' This decision was made by the Hungarian authorities after a meeting between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, which took place on Monday, September 22. This happened just a few hours before the next round of a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the EU, which is due to start on Friday morning in Berlin," reads the statement.
In March 2013, Ukraine and Hungary agreed on gas supplies to Ukraine in the amount of up to 6.1 billion cubic meters a year (16.6 million cubic meters a day).
The company noted that the halt of gas supplies was unexpected and unclear, because Ukrtransgaz and FGSZ had signed a contract regulating the flow of gas between Ukraine and Hungary in both directions. Both operators do not have a standard interconnection agreement, although Ukrtransgaz has repeatedly asked the Hungarian side to sign such a contract in accordance with the requirements of the Energy Community.
Earlier, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that if the member states of the European Union supply gas to Ukraine in reverse mode, Russia will cut off gas supplies to Europe.