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Gazprom ready to pay in advance for gas transit through Ukraine

Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy should formalize this proposal until the end of the week

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s gas giant Gazprom is ready to make an advanced payment for the transit of Russian gas through the Ukrainian territory to form that country’s financial reserve for pumping gas to its underground storage facilities, the company’s CEO, Alexei Miller, told reporters on Monday.

He noted that Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy should formalize this proposal until the end of the week. This will allow using around 2 billion dollars that Gazprom should pay Ukraine for the gas transit until the end of 2012 for buying gas and pumping it into the storage facilities.

It is still unclear what gas volumes it is necessary to pump into Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities, as Gazprom does not know how much gas from the current imported volumes is intended for Ukraine’s domestic demand, Miller said.

He underlined that there are no guarantees for non-stop gas export to Europe through Ukraine’s territory if Ukraine’s storage system is not filled with gas.

Gazprom has preliminary agreements on this issue with Ukraine, he said.

Experts say 2 billion U.S. dollars will be enough for buying around 4 billion cubic meters of gas.

Miller emphasized that this scheme envisages no gas export discounts.

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