REUTERS
With the launch of reverse gas flows from the EU, Ukraine has become less dependent on Russia as a source of supply for natural gas, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said when reporting at the Parliament today, December 11.
"Russia is no more a gas dictator of Ukraine. We have got rid of the Russian gas dependence," Yatsenyuk said.
"Together with our European partners, we launched in 2014 the reverse gas flows, we have eliminated all the intermediaries from national joint-stock company Naftogaz. We do not have any agreements, in which notorious Ukrainian oligarchs could be involved," Yatsenyuk said.
The Prime Minister also noted that the price of gas imports in the first quarter of 2016 will be lower than that effective in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Read alsoNaftogaz increases amount of claims against Gazprom"Due to the fact that we have direct contracts with the European partners, and we have filed a lawsuit against Russian Gazprom, the price will be even lower compared to that in the current quarter," Yatsenyuk said, adding that the declining oil prices in global markets would also have impact on reduction of gas prices for Ukraine.
Read alsoYatsenyuk urges EU to stop "anti-Ukrainian and anti-European" Nord Stream-2 projectAs UNIAN reported earlier, in January-November 2015, Ukraine reduced the import of natural gas by 9.5% to 16.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) as compared to 17.9 bcm during the same period in 2014.
The highest volume of natural gas was received from Europe – 10.0 bcm, or 62% of the total volume of supplies.
In November, Ukraine imported 1.1 bcm of natural gas, of which 65% arrived from Europe, according to Ukrtransgaz, the operator of Ukraine's gas transportation system.
Read alsoNaftogaz expects ruling of Stockholm court on dispute with Gazprom in 2016Ukraine suspended purchases of Russian gas in late November due to the fact that Russian price was higher than the price of gas in the European markets, according to the Ukrainian Prime Minister.
Russia's Gazprom has set price for its gas for Ukraine at $227 per 1,000 cubic meters to be effective by the end of 2015.
Next year, Ukraine plans to purchase, when necessary, the Russian gas at $207-208 per 1,000 cubic meters. The price of gas on the European market is projected at $175-180 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2016.