BRUSSELS, June 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s gas giant Gazprom expects to receive advance payment for Russian gas and another tranche of debt repayment from Ukraine’s Naftogaz on Tuesday, June 10, Russian Energy Ministry representative Olga Golant said on Monday.
Meanwhile, a source in the Russian delegation to the three-party Russia-Ukraine-EU gas talks said that the sum of the transfer was expected to be about one billion U.S. dollars. Possible gas discounts for Ukraine would be discussed when the Russian side is informed about the schedule of repayment of outstanding debts.
European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger said he was sure Russian gas supplies would not be stopped even if today’s talks yielded no agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine will repay its debts for Russian gas only after the gas price is fixed, Ukraine’s parliament-appointed Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Prodan said on Monday.
According to earlier reports, European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger said that the fair gas price for Ukraine was 350-38 U.S. dollar per 1,000 cubic metres.
As of Monday, June 9, unquestionable portion of Ukraine’s gas debts for November-December 2013 stood at 1.454 billion U.S. dollars. On June 2, Kiev transferred 786 million U.S. dollars to Russia’s Gazprom, thus having repaid gas debts for the first quarter of 2014.
Ukraine’s debts for gas supplies in April and May 2014, which are also the subject of negotiations in the three-party Russia-Ukraine-EU format, exceeds three billion U.S. dollars.