MALABO /Equatorial Guinea/, November 28. /TASS/. The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) believes that Russia and Ukraine will have time to agree on the terms of a new agreement on gas transit to Europe before the expiration of the current agreement in the end of 2019, GECF General Secretary Yury Sentyurin told reporters.

"This issue has reached the level of presidents. I think that any elected official leader, who is conducting a responsible state domestic and foreign policy — as for our president [Vladimir Putin], I have no doubt that he is pursuing such a policy — will find a solution," Sentyurin said.

He noted that there are objective factors behind the business entities and actors involved: the coming of winter, the need to heat homes, get light, and have raw materials for processing. All these needs will push the development of a solution, the head of the GECF said.

"There are too many crises around already and if we add a gas crisis to them, we will end up moving from one crisis to another," he said.

"We urge both sides to have dialogue for the sake of market stability," he stressed.

GECF wants to become Russia’s watchdog in consultations with EU, Ukraine

GECF has suggested to Gazprom that the organization can become a watchdog at trilateral consultations on gas transit to Europe between Russia, the EU and Ukraine, Sentyurin said.

"The organization came out with a proposal to join the negotiations as a watchdog, because it affects the interests of gas suppliers, and th effects are very seriously," he said.

Sentyurin pointed out that at a meeting of the Presidium of the International Business Congress in St. Petersburg on December 6, he is going to repeatedly voice this proposal to Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller.

"I plan to meet with him and reiterate the readiness of the GECF to be involved in this kind of process as a party that would observe whether the interests of our countries are exposed to any negative impact," he stressed.

Trilateral consultations

Russia, the European Commission and Ukraine have been holding consultations on gas transit from 2020. However, the dialogue is complicated by the ongoing legal disputes between Russia’s Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine. Moscow offers a "package solution" that includes a settlement agreement on legal disputes and direct gas purchases at reduced prices. As a fallback, Russia is ready to extend the current transit agreement for the whole year of 2020.

The next round of trilateral consultations on the transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine from 2020 is scheduled for early December.

The existing contracts for the supply and transit of Russian gas through Ukraine expire on December 31.

About GECF

The GECF is an intergovernmental organization uniting the world's leading gas exporters. The members of the GECF are Algeria, Bolivia, Venezuela, Egypt, Iran, Qatar, Libya, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Equatorial Guinea. They account for up to 70% of the world's proven gas reserves.

Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru have the status of observers in GECF.