REUTERS
On Wednesday, as of 10:00, Naftogaz has received the last prepaid volumes of Russian gas, Gazprom press service has told UNIAN referring to the company CEO Alexei Miller.
"Today, at 10 o'clock in the morning, Naftogaz Ukrainy has received [the last] prepaid volumes of Russian gas. There is no new prepayment. There is no application for the supply of gas from Naftogaz Ukrainy. Thus, the delivery is halted until the Ukrainian company transfers new payments," Miller said.
Miller suggests that the refusal to purchase Russian gas poses serious risks to the reliable gas transit to Europe via Ukraine and also to gas supplies to the Ukrainian consumers this winter.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev said that Ukraine would be able to pass successfully the current and the next heating season in case Russia decides to terminate gas supplies to Ukraine.
Following the tripartite agreements reached in Brussels on October 31, Ukraine completed the purchase of the Russian Gazprom’s 2 bcm of natural gas at the price of $227 per 1,000 cubic meters.
On November 1, imports of Russian gas have been reduced tenfold, while Naftogaz transferred another $64 million prepayment to continue minimum level purchases.
According to Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn, Ukraine plans to coordinate with Russia on possibilities, conditions of supply and the price of Russian gas in Q1 2016 before December 20, 2015.