Ukraine agrees to buy reverse gas at $365-370

KIEV, Jul 4 (PRIME) -- Naftogaz Ukrainy is happy with a reverse gas price of U.S. $365-370 per 1,000 cubic meters, CEO Andrei Kobolev said in a news conference on Friday.

Ukraine has refused to pay more than $326 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas and tried to insist on a price of $268, while Russia offered gas at $385. It also refused to pay its gas debt before the price controversies are settled.

On June 16, Gazprom switched the country off gas over unpaid debt while continuing pumping gas to the E.U. According to Gazprom, the debt stands at $4.5 billion, while E.U. Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger estimates the debt at $3.9 billion. Since the switch off Ukraine has been holding talks on reverse gas supplies with the E.U. countries.

Ukraine pumps 22-25 million cubic meters of gas into its underground gas storages daily from reverse gas supplies and its locally produced gas. Hungary and Poland pump gas to Kiev in a reverse mode.

On June 25, Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yury Prodan said that Kiev and Bratislava signed a memorandum stipulating that the maximum amount of reverse supplies will stand at 22 million cubic meters daily with the possibility to raise supplies to 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

On Thursday, Naftogaz said the company rented a large part of the transit capacity of the Voyany-Uzhhorod pipeline to receive reverse gas supplies from Slovakia.

As of June 27, Ukraine has 14.24 billion cubic meters of gas in its underground storages. The country can pump 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas in June-July into the storages. Russian gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine must have 18.5 billion cubic meters of gas in the storages to ensure a flawless transit to the E.U. for the next winter season.

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