REUTERS
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn says that Ukraine may start mulling purchases of natural gas from Russia not earlier than at the end of February.
"It is unlikely to happen in January – we'll get back to this issue late in February. It depends on volumes we'll be able to withdraw from storage facilities. As of today we can take 120-130 million cubic meters. Therefore we've still got something for future," he told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Demchyshyn earlier said that buying gas from Russia was not of interest at that moment as the price Russia wants to sell gas to Ukraine is $212 per 1,000 cubic meters, which is higher than the price Ukraine buys gas from Europe.
In his words, Ukraine pays about $190 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas delivered from Europe, which is lower than the price proposed by Russia's OAO Gazprom.
According to the minister, Ukraine hopes that the World Bank will lend Ukraine $500 million loan for gas purchases within a month or two. What is more, Ukraine plans to optimize its loan portfolio to reduce the costs of borrowings.
Gas stocks in Ukraine's underground storage facilities shrank by 6.2%, or 848 million cubic meters, on January 2-9, to 12.904 billion cubic meters.