KIEV, December 29 (Itar-Tass) —— Ukraine’s gas import from Russia is to drop to 27 billion cubic meters in 2012, Yuri Boiko, Ukraine’s minister of energy and coal, told the Ukrainian TV on Thursday.
“The purchase of Russian gas will decrease by half from January 1. We have warned the Russian partners that our economy cannot afford such a price of gas, and we will be switching to the use of our own energy resources,” Boiko said. He stressed that the plans to cut gas imports are explained by the high price of gas.
“If gas becomes cheaper, we will buy more, if it is as expensive, we will buy only as much as we can afford,” the minister said. He said Ukraine intends “to replace gas in its energy balance with its own resources,” specifically, with coal.
Ukraine imported about 37.4 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in January-November 2010.