KYIV, Sept 13 – The possible drastic decrease in the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine caused by a launch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would lead to such alterations in the physical and chemical properties of gas as to raise questions among European operators of gas transmission systems on the western border of Ukraine, Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko has said.

If Gazprom sends nothing into Ukraine's Gas Transmission System (GTS), "this would make it even easier for us: no need to comply with anything. But, if it sends in small amounts of gas or varies them considerably, [by sending] maximum one day and, say, minimum the next, then there will be physical problems, how to ensure transit of the gas with required physical and chemical properties specified by contracts between the Ukrainian operator and those in Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and so on," Vitrenko said on the sidelines of a YES Brainstorming conference in Kyiv on Saturday.