Ukraine has the ability to transport natural gas from northern Europe in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and even Greece, said the Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demcişin, reports Sputnik portal.

“Ukraine capabilities allow transportation (of gas) from north (of Europe), from Norway, to Ukraine”, said Demcişin. “We can transport the natural gas to Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey and potentially in Greece”, he continued.

Ukrainian gas transmission infrastructure, developed in the 60s and 70s, is available and capable of transporting large volumes of natural gas, he said. Ukraine has 38 distinct transmission lines, connecting the south of the country to the east and west, and the north with the south, added the minister.

Ukraine joins EU antitrust investigation made on Gazprom

On the other hand, Russian giant Gazprom acts in “discriminatory” conditions and affects the Ukrainian economy, said the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk while in Kiev. He asked the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to launch an investigation against Russian energy giant because of this.

“The Ukrainian government asked the Antimonopoly Committee to begin investigating the Russian company Gazprom, which acts discriminatory and uncompetitive, and causes damage to the Ukrainian economy”, said Yatsenyuk. Head of Government “has just finished examining the materials on this topic, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry and the Antimonopoly Committee”, reported the press office of the Ukrainian Government.

“We will address our partners in the European Union (the proposal) to make this a joint investigation concentrated on declaring the monopoly of Gazprom company not only in the EU but also in Ukraine”, said Yatsenyuk.

European Commission (EC) accused formally on Wednesday the Russian company Gazprom for abuse of dominant position that it holds in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe, following an investigation initiated in 2012. The Commission submitted to Gazprom a “statement of objections” to show that the gas producer violates antitrust rules of the gas market in eight countries, namely Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.

Source

Mediafax