ages gas supply from LNG terminal that Croatia plans to build. The formation of an East European gas hub in Ukraine on the basis of underground gas storage facilities looks a more promising project7. The European Commissioner for Energy G.Oettinger mentioned it in March 2013 and called promising the idea of regional gas hub set up though showed scepticism about prospects of its quick implementation.8 The Ukrainian party is set to get a possibility of spot gas purchases and GTS capacity increase from 32 to 55 bcm9. The then minister E.Stavytskyi mentioned Poland, Hungary, Italy and Germany among those willing to use the UGSF10. Then-rresident V.Yanukovych underscored a possibility for Ukraine, following its GTS modernisation, to propose its storage facilities as the basis for a new gas-exchange market11.
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7
S tavytskyi: Ukraine May Become A Central European Gas Hub, RBK Ukraine, 3.05.2013. – http://www.rbc.ua/ukr/top/show/ukraina-mozhet-stat-tsentralno-evropeyskim-gazovym-habom--03052013161000
8
E U: It’s Not Realistic to See Regional Gas Hub in the Coming Years in Ukraine, RBK Ukraine, 4.03.2013. – http://www.rbc.ua/rus/ top/show/sozdanie-regionalnogo-gazovogo-haba-v-ukraine-vblizhayshie-04032013105500
9
kraine to Bring Its Underground Gas Storage Facilities’ Capacities U by 43 Billion m3, UNIAN, 25.06.2013. – http://economics.unian.net/ rus/news/171347-ukraina-uvelichit-moschnosti-rodzemnyih-hranilisch-gaza-na-43-mlrd-kubometrov.html
10
E uropean Nations Interested in Gas Storage Facilities of Ukraine, Holos Stolytsi, 17.04.2013. – http://newsradio.com.ua/2013_04_17/ vropejsk-kra-ni-zac-kavlen-v-gazovih-shovishhah-Ukra-ni/
11
S tavytskyi: European and Ukrainian Companies Will Talk About Gas and Energy Hub Creation in September, Interfax Ukraine, 26.06.2013. – http://ua.interfax.com.ua/news/political/158504.html
Ukraine and Energy Community: Still Does Not Fit
On 26 June 2013, then Prime Minister M.Azarov commissioned his Deputy Y.Boyko to prepare a concept of energy hub development for the EUUkraine Summit in Vilnius12. The Ministry of Energy also expected to start hub negotiations already in autumn 2013 in order to switch to some real organisational phase in the next year13. The fiasco at the Vilnius Summit and further developments in Ukraine have put this far-reaching project on a long hold.
12
Azarov Commissions Boyko with Energy Hub Concept Preparation, UNIAN, 26.06.2013. – http://www.unian.ua/news/579796-azarovdoruchiv-boyku-ridgotuvati-kontseptsiyu-energetichnogo-habu. html
13
hy Does Ukraine Need to Become a Gas Hub, Delo.ua, 5.07.2013. W – http://delo.ua/business/zachem-ukraine-stanovitsja-gazovymhabom-208876/
Conclusion The government saw no expediency in adopting documents in furtherance of Directive 2004/67/EC requirements. Still, when it comes about energy security considerations, the ‘sufficiency of regulation’ may not serve a justification of one’s passive stance – still more than the unique nature of Ukraine’s GTS allows for not just joint infrastructural projects, but also deeper forms of integration with the EU like regional trading facilities beside a complicated complex of gas ‘streams’ and storage facilities.
Ukraine and Energy Community: Still Does Not Fit
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