All news

Ukraine’s Naftogaz should look for money to prepay for gas supplies — Gazprom

If no money comes from Kiev, Gazprom will be unable to continue supplying gas to Ukraine by the end of the week

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Ukraine’s national energy company Naftogaz should look for money to prepay for Russian gas deliveries, Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov said on Thursday.

The Gazprom spokesman said Gazprom was also ready to discuss gas supplies to the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) separately from current agreements with Naftogaz.

"We’re continuing active correspondence with Naftogaz, which confirmed by its letter yesterday that the remaining [prepaid] gas volume totaled 206 million cubic meters. We’re ready to leave our gas deliveries to Donbas outside our discussions and are ready to supply the volumes requested by Naftogaz to the entry points specified by it," the Gazprom spokesman said

However, the problem is that considering the current level of prepayment, the prepaid gas volumes will suffice only until the end of the week, Kupriyanov said.

If no money comes from Kiev, Gazprom will be unable to continue supplying gas to Ukraine, he added.

"That is why, the main issue Naftogaz needs to resolve is to look for money for a new prepayment," the Gazprom spokesman said.

"We’ll act only pursuant to the contract. If money is not transferred on time, gas will not be supplied," the Gazprom spokesman said.

Vice President of the European Commission (EC) Maros Sefcovic has invited the energy ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Alexander Novak and Vladimir Demchishin, for a three-way gas meeting on Monday, March 2, EC spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told a news conference on Thursday.

She said Sefcovic, who is in charge of energy policy, had sent letters to the Russian and Ukrainian ministers, inviting them to a three-way meeting in Brussels.