Kiev - Ukraine's government is in talks with Japanese and
Turkish energy corporations on the construction of a liquified
natural gas terminal able to provide fuel to Europe and bypass
Russia-controlled pipelines, the Interfax news agency reported
Wednesday.
Representatives from Ukraine's Ministry of Energy, Japan's
Mitsubishi Group Inc, and Turkey's Calik Group are discussing
building a 750-800 million dollar liquified gas terminal on
Ukraine's Black Sea coast able to receive natural gas deliveries by
sea, according to the report.
The transshipment complex would enable Azerbaijan and Central
Asian producers to deliver product to Europe via Ukraine's pipeline
network, and at the same time give Ukraine an alternate to fuel
delivered by Russia's natural gas pipeline network.
A pricing dispute between Ukraine and Russian in early January led
to a three-week blockade of Russian natural gas deliveries to
Ukraine, and unprecedented downstream shortages in Europe.
European Union consumers receive roughly one-quarter of their
natural gas needs from Russia, most of it delivered through Ukraine's
pipeline system.
Foreign investors would according to preliminary discussions fully
finance the terminal project, provided Ukraine's government gave
guarantees of state support to the construction, said Burzu Aliev, a
Ukraine government spokesman.
The complex if operational would break a Russian monopoly on
natural gas deliveries to Europe, and reduce the price of natural gas
on the Ukrainian market by as much as 50 per cent, Aliev predicted.
Talks are in a early stage and a business plan is not complete, he
added.
The terminal as per current discussions would be able to transfer
some 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year, roughly one-fifth
of Ukraine's total consumption.
Ukraine's government during the Russian blockade met needs using
gas held in underground reservoirs, and owned by Russian and
Ukrainian private energy companies.
The Ukrainians made up some shortfalls during the January cut-off
by tapping into supplies owned by the Russian natural gas monopoly
Gazprom and designated for European consumption, a move criticized by
Gazprom officials as massive theft by Kiev.
Russia's use of an energy weapon against Ukraine justified the
siphoning, Ukrainian officials said at the time.
USA
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