Ukraine to pay $480 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas from April 1

Business & Economy March 27, 2014, 16:37

Russia's gas giant Gazprom canceled from April the $100 discount on natural gas for Ukraine

KIEV, March 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine's parliament-appointed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the price of natural gas for Ukraine will make up $480 per 1,000 cubic meters from April 1.

"We considered problems of (the national oil and gas company) Naftogaz while taking into account these prices," Yatsenyuk told lawmakers on Thursday.

The company's liabilities will make up 33.4 billion hryvnias (some $3.3 billion) in 2014, according to the prime minister.

Russia's gas giant Gazprom canceled from April the $100 discount on natural gas for Ukraine, which was effective throughout the first quarter of 2014.

In addition, the price of $480 apparently envisions the cancellation of the discount under the Kharkov accords (where the discount was 100 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters).

Crimea's joining Russia invalidated the subject of the so-called Kharkov accords between Russia and Ukraine. As a result, Kiev's debt to Moscow will increase by approximately $11 billion, which equals the total value of the discount.

The money which the Russian budget lost under the discount accord should have been used to pay for the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine in the period from 2017 through 2042.

Under the Kharkov accords of April 21, 2010, Russia had to pay 100 million dollars a year to Ukraine beginning from May 28, 2017, for the presence of its Black Sea Fleet in Ukrainian territory.

 

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