Ukraine urged Russia on Thursday not to cut off gas supplies and for the first time named the price it is prepared to pay for Russian gas, Interfax news agency reported.
Russia’s Gazprom export monopoly said late on Wednesday it would turn of the gas taps to Ukraine at 0700 GMT on Thursday after talks on a supply contract failed.
Ukraine is seeking a gas price of $201 per 1,000 cubic metres, Interfax cited a joint statement by President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko as saying.
Kiev is also proposing raising the transit tariffs that Russia pays to transport gas to Europe to no lower than $2 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas for 100 kilometres, the agency said.
Gazprom, which sends about a fifth of Europe’s gas needs through Ukraine, has offered a price of $250 per 1,000 cubic metres, a steep rise from 2008’s $179.50 but still about half the current European market price.
“The Russian Federation’s proposal of raising the price to $250, while oil prices are falling sharply, constitutes the establishment of a central European gas price for Ukraine,” the statement says, according to the agency.
“At the same time, Russia proposes keeping the transit price unchanged at $1.7, which is two times lower than the central European level.”
Ukraine argues that under an agreement between Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in October, Ukraine would pay European market prices only within three years.
Gazprom has said that the average European price for gas would decrease to $250-$300 by mid-2009, tracking falling prices for oil. (Writing by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Matthew Jones)
