Russia may block reverse gas flows to Ukraine

Prospects of reverse flows from Slovakia to overcome raised prices from Gazprom in doubt.

Reverse gas flows from European Union member states to Ukraine, mentioned at last month’s European Council as a way to help the country overcome reliance on Russian gas, may be overruled by Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told Russian channel NTV over the weekend that such reverse flows may be illegal. Although the flow would be coming from the EU, the gas originates in Russia. Such reverse flows may therefore require the permission of Gazprom.

Ukraine is looking for a way to work around a drastic increase in gas prices imposed by Gazprom last week. Slovakia and Hungary receive gas from Russia through a transit pipeline crossing Ukraine, and this gas could theoretically be sent back to Ukraine to overcome Gazprom’s price rise.

However experts say such a project would be technically difficult. Such an operation would be expensive and take at least nine months to complete.

A European Commission spokesperson said today that any decision for reverse flows would be a private one by the companies involved. But she said that the Commission believes that in principle such flows would be a good idea.