By Xinhua
Moscow : Russian gas giant Gazprom will stop supplying Russian gas to Ukraine at 10 a.m. Moscow time on Feb.12 if Ukraine’s debts are not paid, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters on Friday.
The Friday negotiations between Gazprom and Ukraine’s gas company Neftegaz Ukrainy “showed that the Ukrainian side was totally unprepared to discuss the essence of the problem …. We give them time until Monday. If the problem is not resolved, Russian gas will not be supplied to Ukraine starting from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, Feb. 12,” Kupriyanov was quoted as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.
According to Kupriyanov, the Ukrainian debt for Russian gas delivered since Jan. 1, 2008, is nearing 500 million U.S. dollars, while the total debt stands at 1.5 billion dollars. Ukraine has received 1.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas this year, Kupriyanov said.
“Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine are not included in the Gazprom balance of gas for 2008. Thus, Ukraine must immediately legalize the deliveries with relevant contracts and acts and fully repay its debt,” Kupriyanov said.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said before the negotiations he hoped to reach an agreement with Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he did not want to review gas agreements with Russia. He said Gazprom promises to stop gas supplies to Ukraine because of debts “resulted from the Ukrainian government’s wish to keep out the intermediary (RosUkrEnergo) and review gas charges.”
RosUkrEnergo (owned by Gazprom at 50 percent) buys gas from Gazprom Export and brings it to the Russian-Ukrainian border. There gas is sold to UkrGazEnergo — a joint venture between RosUkrEnergo and Neftegaz Ukrainy — which, in turn, delivers some of the gas to Ukrainian consumers and sells the rest to Neftegaz Ukrainy, which makes deliveries to heating plants and public sector companies.
RosUkrEnergo supplies Central Asian gas at the price of 179.5 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters. This year’s supplies were set at 55 billion cubic meters. However, Central Asian gas supplies dipped because of unprecedented frosts and RosUkrEnergo had to buygas from Gazprom at the price of 314.7 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.