A discussion on the state of Ukraine's energy markets

6 September 2017, 4 - 8 PM CET

TUSIAD Avenue des Gaulois 13, Brussels 1040

Here in Brussels, we tend to get the pretty standard narrative about the Ukrainian energy market these days. The gas market is being liberalized in line with EU rules and values, the country's energy independence will be beefed up by reverse-flow gas supplies from EU countries, and Russian gas transit through Ukraine needs to be maintained for keeps. Ukraine is on course to meet its reform commitments under the Energy Community Treaty and Naftogaz is already being unbundled under reform-minded, pro-Western management. Whilst we have heard it all before, old hands with the Ukrainian energy markets realise that the story is not as straight forward.

While we in Brussels tend to equate Ukraine's energy independence with diversification of the gas supply, others equate it more to realising the country's massive resource potential. In fact we have held a debate in the BREC format in years previous as to what energy independence, or self-reliance, really means for Ukraine. Those debates, however, failed to identify the preconditions that the country needs to meet in order to realise its potential as a gas producer.

Thus, in this BREC meeting, we took a closer look as to what needs to be done in order to achieve energy self-reliance objectives in Ukraine, with a particular focus on investment and technologies. As regards to the gas markets, we reviewed the results of the main trends in Ukrainian domestic gas production in H1 2017 and examined the challenges that continue to stand in the way of production enhancement.

Further, we took stock of the political dimension of the Ukrainian energy sector following the recent upheavals in the country. We considered energy and geopolitics in the Ukrainian popular mind-set as well as expert views of the subject matter. We examined the roles of the key players in the country's political landscape and explored their interconnected strategies and interests towards the gas sector. Is there a connection between Ukraine's oligarchs, key political figures, the gas markets and energy independence, one might ask? Several scenarios for Ukraine's energy markets ensued from the debate, as the next BREC session delved deep into a frank discussion about the state of Ukraine's energy markets.

Program September 6, 2017: 16.00 — 20.00:

Setting out the debate by Dr Marat Terterov, Initiator and Founder, Brussels Energy Club,
Presentation by Roman Opimakh
Presentation by Oleksiy Jacubin
Roundtable discussion with meeting participants (NB: the Chatham House Rule will apply).
Our traditional networking reception with gala buffet will follow the main discussions