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Kiev confirms terminating gas transit to Hungary and losing imports from this country

Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine stated that the transit of gas to Hungary had been terminated at 07:00 on Friday

© EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

KIEV, October 1. /TASS/. Ukraine has lost the ability to import natural gas from Hungary through the so-called virtual reverse due to terminating the transit of Russian natural gas through the Ukrainian territory to Hungary, Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine announced on Friday.

"Taking into account the fact that imports of natural gas from Hungary was carried out by means of a virtual reverse, there is no possibility of imports from Hungary without transit," the statement said. The company confirmed that the transit of gas to Hungary has been terminated at 07:00 on Friday.

On October 1, Gazprom began supplying gas to Hungary under a long-term contract through the Balkan Stream gas pipeline (continuation of TurkStream) and pipelines in South-Eastern Europe. According to the company, two contracts were signed, with a total volume of up to 4.5 bln cubic meters per year, the term of each contract is 15 years.

Since November 2015, Kiev has ceased to directly purchase Russian gas, replacing it with the so-called virtual reverse gas from Europe. Thus, Ukraine formally purchases gas from European companies, but in fact takes part of the transit fuel that goes from Russia to Europe. Thus, this gas does not physically cross the western border of Ukraine, but it is processed as gas imported from Europe.

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