Russia and Ukraine achieve progress in gas talks
Picture: AFP
Brussels. Russia and Ukraine agreed yesterday (2 June) to examine a payment plan to settle Kyiv’s multi-billion gas debts and fix a price for supplies until June 2015, offering the promise of averting an energy crisis over the crucial winter period, EurActv reported.
The argument over prices for natural gas has added to tensions, as the two countries squared off over Moscow’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and over a pro-Russian rebel uprising in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s Gazprom had been threatening to cut off Ukraine’s gas today, with potential knock-on effects for the European Union because much of the gas it receives from Russia is pumped via Ukraine.
But the immediate threat of a supply disruption was avoided after Kyiv paid a first installment, prompting Gazprom on Monday to grant it a week’s grace.
While the dispute has gone on, Gazprom has continued billing Kyiv at the higher rate. It says Ukraine already owes it more than $5 billion in unpaid bills and is running up more debt at a rate of more than $1 billion per month.
Late on Monday, after some six hours of talks brokered by the European Commission, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said the CEOs of Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz had agreed to consider a plan that could avoid price disputes recurring over the European winter when demand peaks.
“My request and my expectation is that we come up with a package that covers the period until June next year,” Oettinger told reporters.
He did not disclose details of the price being considered, saying only that it was less than the $485 per 1,000 cubic metres Russia has demanded and more than the $268.50 on which Kyiv has been insisting.
A further round of three-way talks brokered by the Commission could be held at the end of this week or next week, Oettinger said.
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