Rosukrenergo AG said Friday that the Switzerland-based gas wholesaler, which is owned 50% by Russia's OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), has around 10 billion cubic meters in gas reserves in Ukraine that it could transport to Europe.
"We have 10 billion cubic meters in gas stored", said Rosukrenergo board member Hans Baumgartner. "We could deliver this gas to Europe immediately but our hands are tied." Baumgartner, who was speaking in Zurich, declined to detail why Rosukrenergo can't tap its reserves, which are stored in Ukraine.
Due to the pricing dispute between Gazprom and Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz, gas shipments have been cut. Rosukrenergo said it had contacted the Swiss government to help it resume transportation of its gas reserves to Europe. The company is also understood to try to recover around $614 million in debt from Ukraine.
Rosukrenergo, which is based in Zug and is also owned partly by Ukrainian businessmen, delivers gas from such countries as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to Ukraine and other countries in Western and Eastern Europe.
The bulk of its gas transports end up in Ukraine, while about 10 billion cubic meters of gas are transported annually to countries such as Romania and Hungary. Rosukrenergo, which said it had sold gas to Ukraine at a loss over the past three years, has posted a net profit of about $795 million in 2007, mainly thanks to gas sales to countries such as Poland.
Rosukrenergo was founded in 2005 to help unbundle gas transports in Ukraine. The aim was to split gas transports for Ukraine from gas transports to Europe.
Baumgartner also said the company was prepared to continue doing business with Ukraine but that its main goal was to have full transit through the country. "We use all possibilities to have a free transit through Ukraine," Baumgartner said.
Meanwhile, European Union observers Friday started working in Kiev, meeting conditions agreed Thursday for Russia to resume gas shipments through Ukraine's pipelines, the European Commission said. The E.U. observers are checking the volumes of gas Russia ships through the country.