OREANDA-NEWS. July 10, 2012. Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov met with MP of German Parliament Carl George Velman and representatives of the Ferrostaal Company.

Ferrostaal managing director Mark Neumann, who joined the delegation, told about performed work within the framework of the joint with Naftogaz of Ukraine pilot project to modernize the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

This project is the first sign of Ukraine's cooperation with European partners on the modernization of our gas transportation system. It provides a deep modernization of the Bar compressor station and will significantly increase pumping efficiency and the use of energy for relatively small money.

So, Mark Neumann said that the Ferrostaal is working on many fronts, particularly with steel, oil and gas, fertilizers, as well as it is a system integrator for relations with other German manufacturers.

Representatives of the Ferrostaal also paid attention to the fact that during the year they studied the technical parameters of the Ukrainian GTS. They are convinced that the deep modernization of Ukrainian gas transport system, which is according to both domestic and European experts is worth about USD 5.3 billion, will pay off sooner than can be put into operation the "South Stream".

In turn, Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov noted that there were no alternatives to the Ukrainian gas transportation system modernization. "Modernization of Ukrainian GTS - is the cheapest and most reliable way to ensure an uninterrupted supply of energy to Europe", - said the Head of Ukrainian Government. He stressed that the special relevance this question has, given the severe frosts that our countries went through last winter. "Anomalous frost showed that neither the Nord Stream nor the South Stream are will have not in the near future and haven’t now a reliable storage facilities that could be involved in a period of abnormally low temperatures", - Mykola Azarov said.

"Therefore, there are no alternatives to modernization of the Ukrainian gas transportation system because neither the "Nord Stream" nor the "South Stream" does not remove the risk caused by abnormally low temperatures, "- said the Prime Minister. According to him, we should create a consortium with Ukraine, Russia and the European Union to implement a project to modernize the Ukrainian gas transportation system, but all three parties should be concerned on this.

Mykola Azarov welcomed the launch of a pilot project, which provide the modernization of the Bar compressor station. However, he said that all manufacturers of Germany can count on support from the Government of Ukraine to projects aimed at modernizing the economy. "I welcome the implementation of such projects and the expansion of cooperation with Germany, especially in the modernization of our gas transportation system, energy efficiency, increase production of its own gas, and so on. Therefore, industry in Germany can count on the support of the Ukrainian government projects that are associated with the development of our country ", - said Mykola Azarov.

It is expected that the Ferrostaal and Naftogaz of Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a pilot project to modernize the Bar compressor station. Deutsche Bank has confirmed the intention to fund the project.