Photo from UNIAN
The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a deal on financial guarantees regarding $500 million loans from the World Bank for Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz, with the funds to be used for gas purchases during the winter season, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko wrote on Twitter.
"Delighted to witness signing of historic guarantee from EIB to World Bank enabling $500 mln for Naftogaz," the minister wrote.
As reported earlier, Vice President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic urged Ukrainian and Russian energy ministers to implement the so-called Winter Protocol on gas supplies.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Naftogaz transferred on October 9 the first payment to Gazprom for supply of Russian gas.
Ukraine suspended gas purchases from Russia on July 1.
According to estimates of the Ukrainian government, Ukraine has to increase the volume of gas in its underground storage facilities (USFs) to 19 bcm before the beginning of a 2015-2016 heating season in order to ensure uninterrupted transit of Russian gas to the European Union. Currently, 15.8 bcm of gas has been accumulated in Ukraine’s USFs.
The government has accumulated about $1.3 billion to purchase additional amounts of gas. The volume of Russian gas purchases will amount to 2 bcm, with the remaining volume to be bought in the European market.