A new round of negotiations between the head of Gazprom Alexey Miller and the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Yuri Boyko is scheduled for January 17. The meeting is expected to take place in Moscow. This was announced to the Interfax agency on Friday by the Gazprom Information Policy Department.

Earlier, a Gazprom press release stated that Russia and Ukraine should continue negotiations on January 15. Following the meeting on December 23, Miller and Boyko spoke about “good prospects” for the upcoming round of gas negotiations, as noted by Gazeta.ru .

Meanwhile, new negotiations will take place against the backdrop of another round of the Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict. This week Kyiv announced plans to reduce consumption of natural gas supplied from Russia in 2012 by 5 billion cubic meters below the contracted value. The decision of the Ukrainian leadership caused criticism from the Russian side. In response, Miller reminded Ukraine that even the undrawn volume would have to be paid in accordance with the terms of the agreement in force since 2009.

Since the beginning of 2011, Ukraine has been negotiating with Gazprom to reduce the price of gas supplies. Kyiv considers Russian fuel prices too high. In December, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that the cost of gas supplied from Russia should not exceed $250 per 1 thousand cubic meters. While in the first quarter of 2011 the price of gas was about $264, in the second - $296, in the third - up to $354, and in the fourth the price exceeded $400. The Ukrainian budget for 2012 includes a price of $416 per 1 thousand cubic meters.

In turn, Gazprom is concerned that Naftogaz of Ukraine is unilaterally deciding to reduce purchase volumes based on the annual volume of 27 billion cubic meters of gas, while the contract volume is 52 billion cubic meters per year.

Ukraine has sharply reduced the selection of imported gas. If at the end of 2011 daily withdrawals amounted to 100-110 million cubic meters, then by January 9 they dropped to 33.3 million cubic meters. At the same time, Naftogaz states that it timely spoke about its intention to agree on the volume of gas purchases in the amount of 27 billion cubic meters for 2012.

Gazprom insists that Naftogaz missed time to discuss supply volumes for 2012 and the annual contract quantity for Ukraine is 52 billion cubic meters, with the minimum contract quantity being 41.6 billion cubic meters.

The next negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on gas will be held on January 17