EXCLUSIVE-Gazprom pays Ukraine less for gas transit after Kyiv curbs flows

Russian gas supplier Gazprom has paid less for gas transit via Ukraine to Europe in June, the head of Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz told Reuters on Wednesday, after Kyiv suspended Russian flows via the Sokhranovka transit point.

Russian gas supplier Gazprom has paid less for gas transit via Ukraine to Europe in June, the head of Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz told Reuters on Wednesday, after Kyiv suspended Russian flows via the Sokhranovka transit point. "Not in full volumes," Yury Vitrenko said when asked about the gas transit payments. He declined to comment further.

Gazprom did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Wednesday. Russia has continued to export gas to Europe via Ukraine despite a military conflict there which started on Feb. 24 which Moscow calls a "special military operation".

However, Ukraine suspended Russian flows via the Sokhranovka transit point which usually accounts for almost a third of the gas Russia pipes to Europe via Ukraine. Kyiv said it halted those flows because Russian occupying forces had started diverting flows to two Russia-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

Gazprom has made a payment which excludes flows via the Sokhranovka point, a Ukrainian energy source told Reuters. Ukraine transhipped 41.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas to Europe in 2021, up from 40 bcm initially pledged by Gazprom, although that was down 25% from a year earlier.

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