Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and Managing Director for Energy and Natural Resources of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Riccardo Puliti have signed a credit agreement worth EUR 150 million, the funds from which will be sent to modernize the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline, reported the press service of public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz.
Ukrtransgaz Head Ihor Prokopov took part in the ratification of the financial agreement. Puliti and Prokopov signed the project agreement between the EBRD and the company.
“This is not only a project on the modernization of the gas transport system, but an ability to help establishing the full transparency of the Ukrainian energy sector as a whole,” reads the report citing Puliti.
“The implementation of the project will allow not only increasing reliabilities and energy efficiency of the gas transport system, but it will also strengthen Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Prokopiv said.
As reported, Ukraine and the European Investment Bank (EIB) earlier signed a EUR 150 million loan agreement to finance the modernization of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod trunk gas pipeline. The agreement was signed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk on behalf of Ukraine and by EIB President Werner Hoyer on behalf of the EU on Dec. 1, 2014 in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on Oct. 22, 2014, issued resolution to borrow up to EUR 150 million from the EIB and up to $200 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to upgrade the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline. In keeping with the resolution, the funds will be transferred to state-run Ukrtransgaz as a subloan at 2 percent per annum to implement the pipeline modernization project.
Ukrtransgaz, which is 100 percent owned by Naftogaz Ukrainy, operates a system of trunk pipelines and 12 underground storage facilities in Ukraine. The capacity of Ukraine’s gas transport system is 288 bcm at the entrance and 178.5 bcm at the exit, of which 142.5 bcm goes to European countries and 3.5 bcm goes to Moldova.
