A gas transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia could be signed in the last days of this year, the Ukrainian energy minister said on Tuesday.
Kyiv and Moscow have held several rounds of negotiations on the contract, which expires on Dec. 31. Russia wants to strike a short-term deal while Ukraine is seeking a long-term agreement to guarantee supply to its own consumers, as reported by Reuters.
Read alsoTransit of Russian natural gas via Ukraine grows to 73 bcm in 10 months
Kyiv has said it supports the idea of a new 10-year transit contract, with a guaranteed minimum yearly transit volume of 60 bcm and 30 bcm of additional flexibility.
"We are working on different options, it (the agreement) will probably be signed in the last days of December. But we want to agree all numbers, all volumes and other elements of the contract in advance," Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel told reporters.
He said that Kyiv hoped that gas talks between Ukraine, Russia and the European Union would continue next week but Ukraine has not yet received the consent of all parties.
Ukraine is one of the main routes by which Russian gas travels to Europe. Moscow's construction of new pipelines, such as Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream, will cut Russian gas transit through Ukraine to a trickle.
Last year, Kremlin-controlled Gazprom supplied Europe with more than 200 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas, of which 87 bcm went through Ukraine, providing Kyiv with transit income of around $3 billion.
