In the fight against Gazprom, Ukraine scared away Western investors
Moscow – Kyiv, November 11 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – Yesterday, the Ukrainian government launched a counter-reform, requiring major Ukrainian industrialists to purchase gas exclusively from Naftogaz until at least March. At the same time, Ukrainian authorities banned private companies from extracting gas from underground storage facilities. Now, it makes no sense for private companies to independently import or even produce gas, as they will have to sell it to Naftogaz anyway. Meanwhile, Dmytro Firtash's Ostchem, with 4,5 billion cubic meters of gas stored in underground storage facilities, is unable to supply its plants and will have to purchase gas from Naftogaz. Under these circumstances, not a single European investor will invest in Ukraine's gas transmission system, Kommersant reports.
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Since the spring, when the leadership of Naftogaz of Ukraine changed, the new head of the company, Andriy Kobolev, and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk have repeatedly stated that they intend to remake the Ukrainian gas industry, introduce European regulation there and invite foreign investors. The main obstacle on this path was the terms of contracts with Gazprom, and Gazprom itself was almost openly called the main enemy of Ukraine’s energy security.
The fight against Gazprom in the speeches of Ukrainian officials sounded synonymous with reforms in the industry, and the victory over the Russian monopoly was equated with the success of these reforms, the newspaper notes.
However, measures to ensure energy security for the sake of defeating Gazprom have led to the fact that now no European investor will be ready to invest money in the industry with such regulation, writes a columnist for the publication.
Ukraine's fight with Gazprom has scared off Western investors.