17 December 2019, Kyiv – Today, the Energy Community Secretariat confirmed that Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU) is unbundled in line with requirements of the European law. Thereby it issued an opinion supporting the certification of GTSOU as Ukraine’s new gas TSO.
“We are grateful to the Energy Community Secretariat for its prompt consideration and positive opinion on the certification of OGTSU. It is a crucially important step towards completing the unbundling. Ukraine is a reliable partner for the EU, and we are committed to fulfill our obligations. I am sure that the new operator of the Ukrainian GTS will successfully start operations outside the Naftogaz Group on 1 January 2020,” said Andriy Kobolyev, Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine.
The Energy Community Secretariat called achieving this important benchmark a step forward for Europe’s security of gas supply this winter. “Today’s positive Opinion is essentially the consequence of the recent adoption of a Law on Unbundling by Verkhovna Rada. On the basis of this Law, the vertically integrated Naftogaz group transferred the shares in GTSO to MGU, a holding company controlled by the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance also equipped GTSO with so-called economic management rights over the transmission assets, which enable the company to use and operate the state-owned system. As a consequence of these transactions, GTSO will operate as an independent system operator (ISO) as from 1 January 2020,” said the Secretariat in its statement.
Under the requirements of the NEURC Resolution No. 2482 of November 22, 2019 (Section 5), by which the National Regulator approved the preliminary certification of GTSOU, the company has today submitted to the Commission the remaining necessary documents.
The unbundling of the Ukrainian gas TSO has thus reached its final stage. Currently, all prerequisites are met for the National Regulator’s final decision on the certification and licensing of GTSOU. In addition to these decisions, the NEURC should also consider and give a final approval of gas transmission tariffs to enable the start of GTSOU’s operations on 1 January 2020.