At a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky said that his country plans this year to resume imports of natural gas from Turkmenistan to ease a dependence on expensive Russian supply.
“The approximate volume for delivery through Russia amounts to around ten billion cubic meters of gas,” he said, adding that negotiations are underway with Russia over the possibility of Turkmen gas transiting its territory to Ukraine. In particular, a compromise on this issue is planned in the context of a free trade zone agreement.
The amount of Russian natural gas Ukraine imports this year will depend on price, Stavytsky said. Turkmenistan supplied Ukraine with around 36 billion cubic meters of gas annually until 2006 when Ukraine switched over to Russian gas.
