Ukraine can help EU replace 5 bcm of Russian gas - Galushchenko
Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko said this in Brussels on Tuesday before a business lunch held as part of an extraordinary meeting of the EU energy ministers, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
He was commenting at Ukrinform's request on how Ukraine and the EU can help each other in overcoming the energy crisis provoked by Russia.
"We have several ideas. First of all, this is the issue of electricity exports from Ukraine. This is a win-win situation. We can sell electricity, we have such capacity, up to 1.5 gigawatts. We can do it right now. This is good for the Ukrainian market, because we have a big price difference. So we can get money to maintain our financial liquidity. On the other hand, we can save up to five billion cubic meters of gas in Europe: you simply buy our electricity and do not use Russian gas," Galushchenko said.
As reported, Russia threatens countries that support Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression with a complete interruption of gas supplies, which could cause a deep energy crisis on the eve of the winter period.
Today Brussels is hosting an emergency meeting of the EU energy ministers who are looking for a joint response to such a threat. Galushchenko is taking part in the informal business lunch held as part of this meeting.
The European Commission earlier presented a trilateral plan to overcome the probable gas crisis, in the event of a sudden complete interruption of gas supplies from Russia. This plan includes the search for new reliable gas suppliers, massive investments in the development of renewable energy, as well as measures to improve energy efficiency and gas savings.
The EU countries have already been offered, as a precautionary measure, to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15 percent, instead pumping it into underground storage facilities for a safe passage through the winter period. EU energy ministers, with some exceptions, have already approved such a proposal.
