MOSCOW, January 23 (Itar-Tass) - Ukraine is to repay its gas debt by the end of January but it will most likely request a deferral, said Deputy Head of Gazprom’s department for working with the neighbouring countries, Viktor Valov.
“The debt was calculated at the old price,” Valov said adding the new price takes effect according to the contract, from January 1, 2014.
Earlier, Gazprom confirmed an additional agreement to the 2009 deal had been signed for gas supplies to Nazftogaz Ukrainy in the first quarter of 2014 setting the price at $268.5 for 1,000 cubic metres. Last year Naftogaz bought Russian gas at a price slightly more than $400 for 1,000 cubic metres.
Gazprom’s contract with Ukraine is effective till 2019. The Russian gas giant has already signed several additional agreements to the deal, one of which concerning the payment for the Russian fleet’s placement in Crimea and payment for it through 2010 gas price reduction by $100 per 1,000 cubic metres.
Deputy Director of National Energy Security Fund Aleksey Grivach previously said another discount may be “a kind of deferred liability” that suggests Ukraine is to implement certain conditions later. Director of National Energy Institute Sergey Pravosudov believes the discount may suggest Gazprom will receive significant assets like a stake in Ukraine’s gas transportation system which Gazprom’s head Aleksey Miller earlier estimated at $20 billion.