UPDATE: Kiev says most unlikely to buy Russian gas this winter

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MOSCOW, Dec 15 (PRIME) -- Naftogaz Ukrainy is very unlikely to buy gas from Russian gas giant Gazprom until the end of winter, CEO Andrei Kobolev said at a news conference on Thursday.

“We have not bought gas from Gazprom this year. Under our estimates, we will not do it until the end of this year, that’s why 2016 will be a full calendar year, which we’ve spent without Russian gas,” he said.

“If the Russian colleagues do not express a will to accept standard conditions of a contract, we will be most unlikely to buy gas from Gazprom and will wait for a decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court.”

Kobolev also said Kiev expects economic effect of U.S. $20 billion until 2020 from new terms of gas supplies if it wins the dispute at the Stockholm court.

Kiev stopped purchasing Russian gas in November 2015 due to price disagreements. In November this year Naftogaz Ukrainy said it was ready to resume Russian gas supplies on conditions of previous “winter packages.”

On December 9, Russia, Ukraine and the E.U. held gas talks, and Kiev said it was ready to buy 1.5–4 billion cubic meters of Russian gas this winter, while Russia confirmed readiness to ensure gas supplies to Ukraine and the E.U. But the countries failed to agree on resumption of gas pumping as Kiev insists on signing an additional agreement to the contract with Gazprom without a “take-or-pay” condition.

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