Russia to cut gas supplies to Ukraine imminently
Russia’s Gazprom will stop gas supplies to Ukraine if no prepayment is done by Kyiv. Ukraine’s prepaid gas amount will be enough for Ukraine for a few days, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said.
On Monday, Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said his country had enough gas in reserve to ensure it was not critical for it to buy gas from Russia at this stage.
Gas consumption has been up to 19 % lower year-on-year this season and reserves will stand at around 16 billion cubic meters by early December, 2 billion higher than at the same point last year, he said.
Also on Monday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said Ukraine would respond in kind to any trade bans by Russia, which plans to introduce a ban on Ukrainian food imports over Kyiv’s participation in Western sanctions.
“There will be an analogous Ukrainian decision to launch an embargo against Russia to every Russian decision to launch an embargo against Ukraine,” Yatseniuk said.
Yatseniuk also recommended temporarily suspending cargo shipments to Crimea, the territory annexed by Russia from Ukraine last year.
This is not the first time that Kyiv falls behind on gas payments to Russia. Its state gas company Gazprom estimates that Ukraine’s energy major Naftogaz owes it $256.5 million in arrears for gas delivered to southeastern Ukraine for 2015, according to the company’s financial report published last week.
Moscow renewed gas deliveries to Ukraine after receiving $234 million in prepayment out of the agreed $500 from Naftogaz.
In September, Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission initiated a winter package deal for supplies during the peak consumption period between October 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016. It will ensure the delivery of 2 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine’s underground storage at discounted prices.