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Oettinger and Prodan to hold technical meeting in Brussels on reverse supply of gas

"The meeting will be of technical nature and will be held in a closed-door mode," the EC official pointed out

BRUSSELS, June 25, 5:22 /ITAR-TASS/. Guenther Oettinger, Europan Commmissioner for Energy,and Yuri Prodan, Verkhovna Rada-appointd Ukrainian Minister of Energy and the Coal Industry, meet here on Wednesday to discuss matters concerning a reverse supply of natural gas (NG) to Ukraine via Slovakia and prospects for a resumption of three-sided talks on NG among Moscow, Kiev, and Brussels. The meeting will be a closed-door one and no specific decisions are expected to be made, an official in the European Commission (EC) press service told Itar-Tass.

"The meeting will be of technical nature and will be held in a closed-door mode," the EC official pointed out.

According to information from sources of Itar-Tass, at the meeting, Ukraine expects to discuss the possibility of giving greater scope to reverse deliveries of gas from Slovakia. The European Commission intends to study the possibility of a resumption in mid-July of the three-sided talks among Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union on prices of NG and Kiev's debt.

The EC reported earlier that the maximum amount of gas supplied from Slovakia in a reverse mode might be about eight billion cubic metres of gas a year. A price of reverse-supplied gas has not yet been confirmed.

The EC announced earlier that it hoped for a resumption of the three-sided talks in mid-July, emphasizing that it does not regard contersuits as an obstacle to the talks. European users currently receive gas in full amount.

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