REUTERS
Chief Commercial Officer of national oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko says that his company has only used methods previously approved by the Cabinet to calculate gas prices for households rather than it has proposed price hikes.
"Naftogaz did not propose that the Cabinet raise the price of gas for households... Naftogaz has nothing to do with state regulations of gas prices. In its financial plan draft, the company just used the price [formula], which had to be applied by the Cabinet in accordance with the regulatory documents of the Cabinet itself," he wrote on Facebook.
Vitrenko also noted that the gas prices for the households should be calculated based on market prices for previous periods, which is a "purely mathematical matter."
"The Energy and Coal Industry Ministry was to calculate and publish the price [of gas] in accordance with the Cabinet's regulatory acts even before July 1. Why did the ministry not do this, why did the Cabinet decide not to use its own executive acts, which, by the way, have a reference in the program with the IMF, it's really not a question to be addressed to us," Vitrenko added.
Read alsoNaftogaz finds new gas suppliers from EuropeAccording to him, Naftogaz offers the Cabinet to cancel the obligation to sell gas to households through regional gas companies whose shareholder is Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash and whose activities are not transparent. The holding also suggests monetization of subsidies.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Cabinet set a single gas price for households at UAH 6,879, or US$265, per 1,000 from May 1, 2016. According to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, this decision will eliminate all existing schemes of earnings on the difference in fuel prices.
The gas companies sold gas to households at the said price, which was set until April 1, 2017. Then the Cabinet extended the special obligations for Naftogaz to sell gas through regional gas companies and set the gas price for households at UAH 6,079, or $234, per 1,000 cubic meters until October 1, 2017. The price excludes the fuel delivery fee.
According to the decree on assigning special obligations to the subjects of the natural gas market, the gas price for households is to be reviewed twice a year, namely by July 1 and October 1. It is linked to the CIF parity, that is, the cost of gas at Germany's NetConnect Germany NCG hub.
On July 10, Profile Deputy Energy Minister Ihor Prokopiv said that the ministry did not see any reason to increase the gas price for households for the next heating season.