“We approved the protocol without any amendments,” Ulida said.
“The protocol contains Ukraine’s main position in the talks, as announced previously by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk.”
As UNIAN reported earlier, Yatseniuk said that Ukraine maintains that the gas price should be calculated using a formula that takes the oil price into account.
“Based on this formula, the Ukrainian government has determined that this year the gas price should be $378 per thousand cubic meters, not exceeding $365 per thousand cubic meters in Q1, 2015,” Yatseniuk said.
“Ukraine also will determine how much gas it needs, and will pay for gas imports on a pre-paid basis. Ukraine insists that the take-and-pay principle be abandoned, and that gas transit receipts be credited to the accounts of Naftogaz Ukrainy.
“The price of delivered gas should not be higher than $268 per thousand cubic meters. Ukraine has sufficient funds – $3.1 billion to pay for the gas.”
The European Commission has confirmed that it is prepared to guarantee that Ukraine will pay a fixed price of $385 per thousand cubic meters for Russian gas. Parties to the talks have told UNIAN that “it was crucial for Ukraine to receive guarantees from Russia that Ukraine would pay a fixed price of $385 per thousand cubic meters in the coming winter.”
The issue could be resolved by signing a trilateral agreement between Ukraine, the EU and Russian guaranteeing that Ukraine will receive compensation for the price difference if Russia decides to raise the gas price, a representative of the European Commission said.
