Translated material
Naftogaz started paying
As is known, due to unauthorized selection by Naftogaz, consumers in Southern Europe, including Italy, missed out on contracted volumes of Russian gas. Apparently, this gas was never paid for, which is why most of the debt arose. According to Vremya Novostey’s calculations, in January alone, Ukraine siphoned off about 1.5 billion cubic meters (although officially the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, voiced the figure of 550 million cubic meters), approximately the same volume was in February. In total, Naftogaz did not pay for 3.9 billion cubic meters.
According to Mr. Boyko, last year's problems with supplies to Europe were caused by a crisis of trust between partners in a big business, which is gas transportation. “Unfortunately, Russia, as the owner of energy resources, and Ukraine, which provides transportation services, could not find a common language. Responsibility for the mistake lies with both sides, and we must draw conclusions for the future from that situation, the minister believes. -- The supply chain from Russia through Ukraine to Europe will work smoothly if the interests of all parties are taken into account. I am sure that the only way to this is dialogue. We will make every effort to ensure stable energy supplies to consumers in Europe.”
However, in addition to goodwill, Ukraine must also have the means to pay for the gas it needs. The head of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy has already promised to keep the price at $95 per thousand cubic meters (this is precisely the main gas goal that President Viktor Yushchenko officially announced last Friday). “There is no political component to the $95 price. Everything is calculated in accordance with the market approach to its formation, starting from the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan border and ending with gas transit through our territory. There are about ten factors that determine the price. The combination of these factors gives us the right to give the public confidence that we will maintain the price until the end of the year,” Mr. Boyko noted on the 1+1 TV channel.
However, for this it is necessary to convince Turkmenbashi not to increase the price of Turkmen gas (the bulk of imported gas is purchased in Ashgabat) to $100 per thousand cubic meters. Which will be extremely difficult. And if this fails, you will have to buy gas at a higher price or cover the deficit from transit volumes.
According to the agreements of January 4, the exclusive supplier of imported gas to Ukraine is RosUkrEnergo (owned on a parity basis by Gazprom and Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Firtash). The trader buys Central Asian gas from Gazexport and Russian gas from Gazprom, after which he resells it on the Ukrainian market for $95 and partly to Europe.