Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine are continuing as per normal at about 185 million cubic meters/d, despite an explosion Tuesday afternoon at a Ukrainian gas pipeline, Gazprom deputy chairman Vitaly Markelov said Wednesday.
"Gas shipments [via Ukraine] have not been interrupted; the necessary volumes at around 185 million cu m/day are supplied via parallel [Ukrainian] lines," Markelov said at a media briefing.
The explosion broke out on a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which is part of the gas supply route delivering gas from Russia's West Siberia via Ukraine to Slovakia, and further to consumers in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria.
Gazprom believes the likely cause of the explosion was poor state of the pipeline due to insufficient maintenance, Markelov said.
"It is not the first incident at the Ukrainian gas pipeline system, we think more incidents are to come as maintenance of the system is a costly thing," he said.
Gazprom has no plans to investigate reasons for the explosion, Markelov said.
"The pipeline network belongs to Ukraine, it's their business, we are running an investigation," he said.
Late Tuesday, Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said authorities were considering terrorism as the likely cause for the blast.
But Poltava's governor Viktor Bogaychuk has said the explosion took place at a section of pipeline that had been in extremely poor condition.
He also named land subsidence among possible reasons for the incident.
UkrTransGaz said Tuesday the explosion was likely caused by "depressurization of the pipeline," also suggesting technical reasons for the blast.
Ukraine's transiting of Russian gas to Europe decreased by 5.9% year on year, or by 1.85 billion cubic meters, to 29.27 billion cu m in the first five months of 2014, according to Ukraine's Energy and Coal Industy Ministry.
In 2013, Ukraine transported 86.1 billion cu m of Russian gas to Europe, including the EU and Moldova, up 3.2% from 84.2 billion cu m in 2012.
