Prices of gas may be reduced in Ukraine / Photo from UNIAN
Details will be made public on Monday, January 27.
Ukraine's Energy and Environment Minister Oleksiy Orzhel has announced a reduction in prices of natural gas soon.
"The signing of the agreement [with Russia's Gazprom] helped stabilize the market situation, and accordingly there are all positive factors for reducing prices," he has said on Facebook.
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According to him, the Cabinet of Ministers made the appropriate decisions on January 24 and all the details will be announced on Monday, January 27.
Gazprom paid twice the volume of actual transit shipments, he said. "This became possible due to fixing the minimum gas pumping volumes in the transit agreement. Gazprom must pump at least 178 million cubic meters daily. In fact, only 47% of the paid amount was pumped before January 22," the minister explained.
As was reported, Ukraine and Russia on December 30 signed a new gas transit agreement for five years with the possibility of extending it for 10 years.
The document stipulates that Gazprom should pump through Ukraine a minimum volume of 65 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the first year and 40 billion cubic meters annually in the next four years.
Ukraine's Naftogaz noted that for the first time in history, Ukraine had signed a contract with Russia on gas transit, using the European "pump or pay" rule.