Putin sees gas price for Ukraine’s indus consumers 25% cheaper

PARIS/KIEV, Dec 10 (PRIME) -- The price of gas for Ukrainian industrial consumers can be 25% lower than the current one, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference after the Normandy Four summit late on Monday.

“It (gas) can be much cheaper if we agree on joint fair work. It can be cheaper by 25% from the current end-user price, primarily, for industrial end-users, because the price for households is subsidized and we cannot calculate the price basing on a subsidized price,” Putin said.

Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky said that the prolongation of a gas transit contract with Russia beyond January 1, 2020 is likely.

“We indeed devoted much time to the issue during our one-on-one meeting (with Putin) … I am sure that I cannot disclose the details as there is no agreement yet, but I am sure that we have more chances to sign the deal at better terms than our representatives discussed before,” Zelensky said.

“Nobody discusses a one-year contract any more… I insisted on more profitable and ambitious conditions for Ukraine and Europe, for ten years,” he added.

Zelensky added that Russia and Ukraine “will discuss the option, its format, volume, and price, and other details of a gas transit agreement at the advisors’ level, because it is important for all of us.”

Ukraine’s state energy holding Naftogaz CEO Ukrainy Andrei Kobolev said in a show on the ICTV television channel that, according to his information, Moscow and Kiev failed to reach any agreement at the negotiations.

“As far as I know, the (gas) topic was discussed, but no agreements have been reached yet,” Kobolev said.

“We would be glad to… sign a new gas transit contract. Everything is ready for this. We will finish the process of spinning off the (gas transportation) system until January 1. A new independent operator, established under the European rules, is ready for operating activity. It will leave Naftogaz from January 1 to become fully independent,” he said.

Ukraine stopped direct purchases of Russian gas in 2015. The current gas supply and transit contracts between Russia and Ukraine expire at the end of 2019.

Naftogaz Ukrainy’s Executive Director Yury Vitrenko told reporters that the company does not plan to cancel its compensation claims to Russian gas giant Gazprom.

“We don’t plan to zero (the claims). On the contrary, we have explained with reason the legal validity of our position on the necessity of executing the arbitrage decisions,” he said.

Zelensky also said that the issue of compensation under an arbitration court’s decision has been finally settled.

“I think that we have principally settled the issue of the U.S. $3 billion compensation under the cases that we won. Our position is simple: we are ready to accept (the compensation) with gas. This is a compromise that we are ready for.”

In 2018, the Stockholm arbitration court ruled that Gazprom must pay Naftogaz Ukrainy U.S. $2.56 billion for non-shipment of gas. Gazprom said that the decision led to an imbalance in relations of the companies and requested termination of gas transit and delivery contracts with Ukraine.

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