Reuters/Moscow
Russia will consider offering Ukraine a discounted price for gas but believes Kiev should pay for supplies to eastern Ukrainian regions controlled by Moscow-backed rebels, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said yesterday.
The minister’s comments sent mixed signals about Moscow’s stance in gas talks between the two countries, which are complicated by the conflict in eastern Ukraine where the separatist rebels are fighting government forces.
His remarks on the rebel-held east may mark a change of position in Moscow, with Kremlin-controlled gas producer Gazprom having recently said supplies for such regions could be exempted from the contract with Kiev.
Russia meets around a third of Europe’s gas demand and about 40% of that transits via Ukraine.
Moscow agreed last year to provide a discount of $100 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas for Ukraine until the end of the first quarter. Further supplies are expected to be discussed later this month.
Novak, fresh from another round of talks in Brussels mediated by the European Commission, said yesterday that Moscow could consider another discount for Ukraine, starting from the second quarter, through reducing an export duty on gas.
“We, obviously, will look into the possibility of providing such a discount, depending on our budget and market environment,” he told Rossiya 24 TV channel. “In theory, there is such a possibility... it is a matter of separate agreements.” Novak added that Moscow would also take into account a change in contract prices for gas for Ukraine which are revised regularly according to a formula pegged to the prices of crude oil and oil products with a lag of six to nine months.
“(Oil) prices have fallen and the period that will serve as a basis (for pricing) saw lower prices of oil and oil products,” he said in an interview.
Ukraine has been paying $329 per 1,000 cubic metres of Russian gas in the first quarter.
But the minister appeared to take a less conciliatory stance later in the day, saying that Kiev should pay for the supplies of Russian gas to rebel-held regions of Ukraine.
“That’s because it (gas) is supplied to the territory of Ukraine. That’s logical,” Interfax quoted him as saying.
Gazprom started direct supplies to east Ukraine last month at the pace of up to 12mn cubic metres per day, saying that Kiev had halted its own deliveries there.
A spokesman for Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz told Reuters yesterday: “We are paying only for gas which enters Ukraine via already agreed points of entry.”
Novak: Considering another discount for Ukraine.
