Gazprom: In 2009, price for natural gas for Ukraine can be higher than $400

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Gazprom released a statement overnight of the company's head, Alexei Miller, saying that “during a transition to market relations in transporting natural gas to Ukraine, the price can be higher than $400 starting from January 1, 2009”. The current price is $179.5 per 1,000 cubic meters. Kommersant newspaper (Russia) noted today that the statement was preceded by a meeting of Mr. Miller with the President Dmitry Medvedev. The head of Gazprom reportedly briefed the president on the situation concerning negotiations with Ukraine on a long-term contract for natural gas delivery. “The problem of debt payment has not been settled to date,” Alexei Miller explained to the president, “Ukraine owes us $2.4 bln.” Medvedev ordered to recover the debt “in a free-will or in a coercive way”.

As REGNUM reported earlier, the deputy director of JSC Naftogaz Ukraine, Vladimir Trikolich announced that his company “is not in debt to Gazprom”. According to the information from a Kommersant source close to the negotiations, in the beginning of the week Gazprom offered to Naftogaz Ukraine to pay the debt of $2.4 bil. by reckoning transit payments of Gazprom for 2009-2010 with saving the current transit rate ($1.7 for transition of 1,000 cubic meters per 100 km). But in this case, already unprofitable balance of payment of Naftogaz would lose the guaranteed income source. Interlocutors of the newspaper assure that the Ukrainian side refused the proposal of Gazprom.