Naftogaz chief: No Russian gas will flow west through Ukraine from 2025

No Russian gas will flow west through Ukraine from 2025. Oleksiy Chernyshov, CEO of Ukraine’s largest oil and gas company Naftogaz, told Radio Free Europe.

The transit contract with Russian company Gazprom expires at the end of 2024. Ukraine would withdraw from it earlier, especially because Gazprom is not paying for transit as agreed, Chernyshov said.

Even now, Ukraine is only providing transit because several European countries are still dependent on Russian gas. „We want to be a reliable partner for our European partners too, for the countries that need it,“ the Naftogaz chief said.

Ukraine is increasing its own gas production. As a result, it has a chance to cover its needs from its own supplies for the first time this coming winter, Chernyshov said.

Russian natural gas continues to transit through Ukraine despite Russia’s military invasion of its neighbour. The recipients are mainly landlocked countries that cannot switch to liquefied natural gas (LNG). The EU aims to stop importing fossil energy from Russia from 2027, the DPA news agency reported.

The Czech Republic did not take any gas from Russia in the first half of this year. According to Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela, Czechia replaced Russian gas with Norwegian gas and liquefied gas from terminals in the Netherlands and Belgium. This year, all gas imported from abroad has therefore flowed into Czechia through Germany.