Russia's Gazprom has said it questions the ability of the Naftohaz Ukrainy national oil and gas company to secure uninterrupted natural gas transit to European countries if gas supplies to Ukraine are restricted from January 1.
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Sergei Kuprianov, the spokesman for Gazprom, said this during the Moscow-London video link. “The Ukrainian side declares its readiness to meet its commitments on gas transit with any development of the events. However, on the other hand, the way they meet their liabilities on the gas supply contract does not instill 100% confidence in the execution of the liabilities of the Ukrainian side on gas transit in full,” he said. Sergei Kuprianov further said the negotiations between leaders of Gazprom and Naftohaz Ukrainy on gas supplies in 2009 were underway. He said the debt of Naftohaz Ukrainy national oil and gas company before RosUkrEnergo, in which Gazprom owns 50%, was nearly USD 2 billion. Because of the debt Gazprom refuses to sign direct contracts with Naftohaz Ukrainy. “The Ukrainian side wants a new direct contract, which does not take into consideration the new debt. We cannot agree with this,” he said. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller has said earlier on the Vesti TV channel that Gazprom has created headquarters for restricting gas supplies to Ukraine. However, he voiced hope that the sides will arrive at a compromise by January 1, 2009. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Gazprom on December 24 said Naftohaz Ukrainy had notified the Russian gas monopoly about inability to pay in full by the end of 2008 for gas supplied by RosUkrEnergo in 2008. The financial liability of Naftohaz Ukrainy before RosUkrEnergo for gas supplied in November is estimated at USD 805.8 million. The financial liability of the Ukrainian national oil and gas company for December gas supplies will be, according to Gazprom, USD 862.3 million. In the opinion of Gazprom, the Naftohaz Ukrainy national oil and gas company will have to pay USD 450 million as penalty fees for delayed payments. In December, Naftohaz Ukrainy raised a UAH 6 billion loan from the Ukrainian Oschadnyi savings state bank and transferred RosUkrEnergo USD 800 million for gas supplies. |
