Ukraine makes prepayment for gas imports from Russia
Ukraine’s state energy firm says it has transferred money to Russia as an upfront payment to buy natural gas for December 2014.
“Naftogaz Ukraine has transferred USD 378 million to Gazprom in prepayment for deliveries of 1 billion cubic meters of gas,” the Ukrainian company said in a statement released on Friday.
Earlier this month, Yuri Prodan, the then Ukrainian minister of energy and coal industry, announced Kyiv’s plan to buy up to one billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia in the first quarter of 2015.
Gas flow to Ukraine is expected to resume within 48 hours from the time the Russian energy giant receives the transfer.
Russia cut fuel supplies to neighboring Ukraine and switched to a prepayment system in June after the Ukrainian energy firm failed to pay its gas debt worth of USD 5.3 billion.
Four months later in October, Kyiv, Moscow and the European Union reached an agreement to ensure Ukraine’s gas supply until March 2015 at a price of USD 378 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Under the deal, Kyiv is required to pay Moscow a total of USD 3.1 billion by the end of 2014 to cover part of its overdue debt. In early November, Naftogaz transferred USD 1.45 billion to Gazprom as the first tranche of its gas debt payment.
Ukraine is one of the largest consumers of Russian gas with imports of some 30 billion cubic meters annually.
SSM/BB/MHB