KIEV, May 29. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine will not buy Russian gas at its high price, said Ukrainian business tycoon Petro Poroshenko, who is winning at snap presidential elections in the country. He has added that instead of this, Kiev hopes for reverse supplies from Europe and LNG supplies from the United States.

“Russia wants to sell gas to Ukraine for $500 (for 1,000 cubic meters). Well, but Ukraine will not buy this gas, the country does not need it,” local media quoted Poroshenko as saying on Thursday.

After a round of the trilateral Russia-Ukraine-EU consultations on gas issues on Wednesday, EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger said EU proposed Ukraine to repay half of its debt for gas supplies in April-May until Moscow and Kiev agree upon a new gas price.

Russia and Ukraine have officially settled all disagreements over the price for gas supplied between November 2013 and March, when it stood at $268 per 1,000 billion cubic meters, Oettinger said. However, Kiev still insists that the price for April-May, after Gazprom cancelled all discounts for the country and set the price at $500, is unfair.

 

Alternative gas supply routes

Oettinger said that the EU will not introduce limits against Russian investments in the European power industry.

The EU is engaged in negotiations with Turkmenistan and Iraq over their participation in the Southern Gas Corridor pipeline which runs from the Caspian Sea and is a competitor of the South Stream pipeline run by Russia’s Gazprom, Oettinger said.

According to Oettinger, Turkmenistan and Iraq could boost the overall gas supplies via the pipeline by about 10 billion cubic meters annually.

The European Commission is still considering introducing a united gas price for the EU or a united gas purchase system, Oettinger said.