Gazprom postpones deadline for gas talks with ukraine to late tuesday
11 February 2008
Published in Forbes
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom today granted Ukraine a few extra hours to pay off debt or face a cut in supplies as tense talks overshadowed a visit here by
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Negotiations between the heads of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz will continue in Moscow tomorrow, with a deadline for agreement extended by eight hours, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Agence France-Presse.
'The possible cut in gas supplies has been put back to 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) Tuesday,' Kupriyanov said.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom today granted Ukraine a few extra hours to pay off debt or face a cut in supplies as tense talks overshadowed a visit here by
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Negotiations between the heads of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz will continue in Moscow tomorrow, with a deadline for agreement extended by eight hours, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Agence France-Presse.
'The possible cut in gas supplies has been put back to 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) Tuesday,' Kupriyanov said.
Gazprom has said supplies of Russian-produced gas to
Ukraine will be halted if an agreement is not found
on a 1.5 bln usd payment.
Russian-produced gas accounts for around a quarter of deliveries to Ukraine, Kupriyanov said, with the remainder coming from Central Asia.
The dispute echoes a pricing row in 2006 that led to supply disruptions across Europe after Gazprom cut all gas supplies to Ukraine. This time Gazprom has said vital deliveries to the European Union will not be disrupted.
The row has overshadowed tomorrow's planned talks between President Vladimir Putin and Yushchenko, a pro-Western leader who has riled Russia by seeking closer ties with the European Union and NATO.
Putin's likely successor, Dmitry Medvedev, called today on Russia's neighbours to come to terms with the fact that Moscow was no longer interested in subsidising their gas, as was the case for years after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
'Our partners should not think that this is a freebie that comes in pretty plastic pipes,' Medvedev said in televised comments. Medvedev is the overwhelming favourite to win Russia's March 2 presidential election.
Speaking to reporters in Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said her government did not agree with Gazprom about the size of the debt.
'This debt will not be refunded at once,' Tymoshenko said, calling for the debt to be re-evaluated and restructured.
Tymoshenko has said that the heart of the problem is the complex web of intermediaries used in gas deals between Moscow and Kiev.
Naftogaz said Sunday it was ready to honour the debt to Gazprom if the Russian energy giant dealt with it directly, bypassing the controversial RosUkrEnergo trading company, a Swiss-registered entity 50 pct controlled by Gazprom and 50 pct by two Ukrainian businessmen.
However, Kupriyanov told Echo of Moscow that talks on restructuring the system of Russian supplies to Ukraine would be possible only after the current dispute had been resolved.
'When the current debts are cleared, we can talk about new schemes,' he said.
Ukraine has almost no gas reserves of its own and tensions with Russia have spurred efforts to restructure the economy to help reduce gas consumption.
Russian-produced gas accounts for around a quarter of deliveries to Ukraine, Kupriyanov said, with the remainder coming from Central Asia.
The dispute echoes a pricing row in 2006 that led to supply disruptions across Europe after Gazprom cut all gas supplies to Ukraine. This time Gazprom has said vital deliveries to the European Union will not be disrupted.
The row has overshadowed tomorrow's planned talks between President Vladimir Putin and Yushchenko, a pro-Western leader who has riled Russia by seeking closer ties with the European Union and NATO.
Putin's likely successor, Dmitry Medvedev, called today on Russia's neighbours to come to terms with the fact that Moscow was no longer interested in subsidising their gas, as was the case for years after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
'Our partners should not think that this is a freebie that comes in pretty plastic pipes,' Medvedev said in televised comments. Medvedev is the overwhelming favourite to win Russia's March 2 presidential election.
Speaking to reporters in Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said her government did not agree with Gazprom about the size of the debt.
'This debt will not be refunded at once,' Tymoshenko said, calling for the debt to be re-evaluated and restructured.
Tymoshenko has said that the heart of the problem is the complex web of intermediaries used in gas deals between Moscow and Kiev.
Naftogaz said Sunday it was ready to honour the debt to Gazprom if the Russian energy giant dealt with it directly, bypassing the controversial RosUkrEnergo trading company, a Swiss-registered entity 50 pct controlled by Gazprom and 50 pct by two Ukrainian businessmen.
However, Kupriyanov told Echo of Moscow that talks on restructuring the system of Russian supplies to Ukraine would be possible only after the current dispute had been resolved.
'When the current debts are cleared, we can talk about new schemes,' he said.
Ukraine has almost no gas reserves of its own and tensions with Russia have spurred efforts to restructure the economy to help reduce gas consumption.