UPDATE: Naftogaz Ukrainy hopes to sign deal with Gazprom on Friday

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KIEV, Dec 24 (PRIME) -- Ukrainian energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy will work together with Russian gas giant Gazprom on a final edition of the natural gas transit deal on Thursday, and hopes to sign it on Friday, Executive Director Yury Vitrenko said on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

“On December 26, the teams of Naftogaz and Gazprom will meet to coordinate final conditions of the contracts. Each side has its own draft of the contracts, but we have to sign one package. We will work on a joint edition on December 26,” he said.

“We hope that we will manage to coordinate the conditions of the contracts and finish the process on Friday, December 27. If there is such a necessity, work will continue during the weekend. We will do it to ensure the transit contract for Ukraine not to fail our European partners,” he said.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Alexei Orzhel said in an article he contributed to newspaper Ekonomicheskaya Pravda that Ukraine expected to receive U.S. $15 billion from Russian gas transit in the next five years.

“The approximate income with which Ukraine left the meeting is more than $3 billion under the arbitration case plus about $3 billion for transit per year in the next five years. In the five-year term, we will get about $18 billion, of which $3 billion are to come in live money until the New Year,” he said.

This compares to a possible $12 billion loss, if Ukraine rejects its suit to Gazprom, he said.

On December 20, Russia and Ukraine signed a protocol of agreements on continuing gas transit through Ukraine and settling mutual claims and are expected to sign a 5-year gas transit contract before the New Year. Gas transit via Ukraine is expected at 65 billion cubic meters in 2020 and 40 billion cubic meters annually in 2021–2024.

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