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Gazprom Continues Talks With Ukraine Despite Harsh Rhetoric
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Dec 30, 2008 Gazprom is continuing to hold gas talks with Ukraine and hopes to reach an agreement by the yearend to avoid supplies cuts over Kiev's outstanding debts, a deputy CEO at the Russian gas giant said Monday. "Three days remain before the New Year, and of course no one would like the sad events of the past to be repeated. But if we are doing everything required on our side to avoid that, we unfortunately are not seeing the same enthusiasm from the Ukrainian side, although we have not lost hope," Alexander Medvedev told the Vesti TV channel. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday that no gas deal had been reached with Ukraine after his one-hour conversation with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. "I have just spoken to Viktor Andreyevich for an hour. No agreement has been reached," Putin said. Asked why no compromise had been reached, Putin said: "They do not want to pay." Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Monday that Ukraine should pay $418 per 1,000 cu m for Russian gas from January 1, 2009. The statement was made during gas talks with a delegation from Ukraine's national energy company Naftogaz in Moscow. In 2008, Ukraine paid $179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters for Russian gas. Gazprom warned earlier that if Ukraine's outstanding $2 billion debt was not cleared, no contracts with Kiev for deliveries after January 1, 2009, and threatened to cut gas supplies to the ex-Soviet republic. The 2006 gas row between the two former Soviet states resulted in a brief cut in supplies to Ukraine and shortages were reported in Eastern Europe.
Ukrainian speaker in favor of gas consortium with Russia "The idea has been discussed, all the basic documentation has been signed. We should examine this very seriously and gain a mutual advantage. The idea is good, and it needs to be brought back," Volodymyr Lytvyn told Ekho Moskvy radio. Russia has said Ukraine's gas debts up to the end of December would exceed $3 billion. The Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, earlier warned that if the debt was not repaid then it would prevent the signing of a new gas deal after January 1, 2009, which may lead to gas supplies to the ex-Soviet republic being cut. A delegation from Ukraine's national energy company is currently holding gas talks in Moscow to try and find a resolution to the current deadlock with Russia on Kiev's debt. "We should prevent relations from reaching freezing point," the Ukrainian speaker said. "The avalanche of unresolved problems, mutual mistrust and a lack of dialogue - all this has failed to go with a spirit of strategic partnership that should have been present in our relations," Lytvyn said after talks in Moscow with Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov. Russia and Ukraine have experienced problems with reaching agreements on previous gas deals. Gazprom temporarily cut gas supplies to Ukraine after both sides failed to sign a contract at the start of 2006.
Source: RIA Novosti Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Analysis: 2008 Caspian energy production 
Washington (UPI) Dec 29, 2008 For the five petro-states ringing the Caspian, 2008 can best be summed up by the opening line of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" -- "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Three of these are the former Soviet republics of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Iran, subject to nearly three decades of U.S.-led sanctions, has longstanding problems as a result that have stymied foreign investment there, while Turkmenistan's fiscal bonanza from its vast natural gas reserves still lies largely in the future. It is there in the trio of former Soviet republics that the fiscal impact of the drop in oil prices and the global economic recession are most pronounced. |
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