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Russia-Ukraine gas dispute

EU-Ukraine-Russia gas talks due in Brussels on Monday - Russian energy ministry

The source said the meeting’s agenda would include gas prices for Ukraine

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

MOSCOW, June 08 /ITAR-TASS/. A tripartite meeting of representatives of the European Union, Ukraine and Russia is due in Brussels on Monday, an official representative of Russia’s ministry of energy said on Sunday.

The source said the meeting’s agenda would include gas prices for Ukraine, and by June 10 the Ukrainian side was expected to settle all the issues of the overdue payments.

The previous round of tripartite talks was held in Brussels on June 2. They were attended by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger, as well as Ukrainian parliament-appointed Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Prodan. The talks focused on Ukraine’s debt. The parties agreed not to suspend gas supplies till the next round of tripartite consultations.

On Tuesday, June 3, Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine agreed to negotiate bilaterally, without further mediation by the EU. Ukraine insists on the recalculation of its debt for the gas supplied in 2013 on the basis of a discounted price of $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters for January-March.

On April 30 Ukraine’s debt reached 3.5 billion dollars.

On April 1, Gazprom cancelled two discounts and raised the price for Ukraine to 485.5 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

Ukraine is a transit country for Russian gas exports to Europe that is why such situation can hamper gas supplies to European consumers. In order to avoid supply disruption in May the consultations within the Russia-Ukraine-European Commission format were started in May.

The throughput capacity of the Ukrainian gas transportation is 288 billion cubic metres system at the entrance and 178.5 billion cubic meters at the exit, including 142.5 billion cubic metres to European countries and 3.5 billion cubic meters to Moldova. Ukraine’s gas transportation system consists of 72 compressor stations, 110 production shops and 1,451 gas distribution stations. The overall length of gas pipelines operated by the company is 38,600 kilometres, including 22,200 kilometres of trunk pipelines and 16,400 kilometres of extensions.

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Oil & Gas Naftogaz Gazprom Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute

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