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Gazprom, Naftogaz discuss gas purchases from Russia, transit to Europe

Kiev expects the price of Russian gas for Kiev to be below $200 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of next year

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Chairman of Management Committee of Russia’s Gazprom Alexey Miller and the head of Ukraine's Naftogaz Andrey Kobolev discussed the prospects of bilateral cooperation at a working meeting Wednesday, Gazprom said in a press release.

"The issues related to provision of sustainable transit of Russian gas via the territory of Ukraine to Europe and the terms of purchases of Gazprom’s gas by Naftogaz Ukrainy in the first quarter of 2016 were discussed at the meeting," the company reported.

Kiev expects the price of Russian gas for Kiev to be below $200 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of next year.

As was reported earlier the country’s minister of energy and coal industry Volodymyr Demchyshin said that "in order to be competitive they [the Russian Federation — TASS] will have to reduce price below $200, this not being any kind of discounts but market terms." "Either the Russians offer price below $200 or they will not be able to sell it [the gas] to us," he added.

Earlier the head of Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz Andrey Kobolev said that the company plans to purchase Russian gas in the first quarter of 2016 in case the price is reasonable, otherwise all necessary volumes will be imported from Europe. "The issue of pricing proposal, which the Russian side will make, is the issue of separate talks. We expect and hope that our Russian partners will be rational and will offer us a competitive price," Kobolev said, adding that "the issue of gas price for the first quarter of 2016 should be settled in December while a separate additional agreement is not expected to be signed."

On November 25, Ukraine’s cabinet prohibited importing gas by Naftogaz from the Russian Federation. Earlier Gazprom suspended gas supplies to Ukraine until new payment are received.

As TASS reported earlier on September 25, the European Union (EU), Ukraine and Russia agreed on supplies of 2 bln cubic meters of Russian gas. The discounted price of Russian gas for Ukraine stands at around $230 per 1,000 cubic meters for the fourth quarter of 2015.