Ukraine, feeling winter chill, pays $378 mln for Russian gas
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KYIV Dec 5 (Reuters) – With freezing temperatures gripping
Kyiv, Ukraine’s state energy firm Naftogaz said on Friday it had
transferred $378 million to Russia’s Gazprom to buy
Russian gas for December, paving the way for the first shipments
since Moscow cut supplies in June.
Flows to Ukraine from Russia were severed in a dispute over
prices and debts. In line with a deal signed by Naftogaz and
Gazprom in October, they should resume within 48 hours from when
the Russian firm receives the transfer.
Cash-strapped Kyiv had delayed buying new supplies, but
increasingly cold weather has forced it to draw down on severely
depleted reserves.
Naftogaz did not say how much gas it planned to buy, but
earlier the energy ministry said this could be about 1 billion
cubic metres.
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, is one of the largest
consumers of Russian gas with annual imports of around 30
billion cubic meters.
It is also the major route for Russian gas transit to
Europe with Russia pumping around half of its gas exports
through Ukrainian pipelines to prime markets there.
Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement, brokered by the
European Commission, at the end of October to cover gas supplies
over the winter months as a temporary solution to a
long-standing price dispute.
Russia, whose relations with Ukraine are politically
complicated by its support for a separatist rebellion in
Ukraine’s east, had insisted Kyiv pay for supplies in advance.
Since the start of the heating season in late October,
reserves have fallen 17 percent to 13.9 billion cubic metres as
of Dec. 1, according to data from Ukrtransgaz, the state-run gas
transport monopoly.
Ukraine’s energy ministry has said Kyiv might buy an
additional 1.5 bcm of gas in the first quarter of next year.
(Reporting By Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Richard Balmforth;
Editing by David Gregorio)