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Russia-Ukraine gas dispute

Take or pay principle should be excluded from Russia-Ukraine gas deal -— Naftogaz CEO

This principle in particular should be excluded from the Summer Package, which is now being finalized

© ITAR-TASS/Maxim Nikitin

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BRUSSEL, April 10. /TASS/. "Take or pay" principle should be excluded from the gas relations between Russia and Ukraine, head of the Naftogaz of Ukraine Andrey Kobolev said Friday.

This principle in particular should be excluded from the Summer Package, which is now being finalized, he said.

Kobolev was speaking after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission on the level of deputies of permanent envoys.

"Gazprom canceled "take or pay" principle for the next three months. There was an official statement on this matter by Mr.Miller [head of Gazprom], that "take or pay" principle was not applied in the Winter Package and it will not be used in the following three months. We believe that in the future we will manage to agree on its cancelation. The provisions in the old contract are far from market standards and among many European consumers and suppliers [of gas] this principle is no longer used".

On April 4, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in a television interview in Moscow that "take or pay" formula was not canceled.

"It is stipulated by the current contract, and it has always been, is and will be until the contract expires", he said.

Gazprom and Naftogaz signed an additional agreement regulating technical aspects of the 2009 contract on supplying gas to Ukraine. That additional agreement was similar to the terms of the Winter Package.

According to Gazprom’s head Alexei Miller, the agreement regulates the mechanism of pre-payment for Russian gas, the procedure for issuing orders for the supply and daily volumes.

Miller said that Gazprom will not require the payment of fines under "take or pay" rule for the supplies of gas in the second quarter of 2015.

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Naftogaz Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute

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