Gazprom will charge Ukraine `market prices` for its natural gas exports from 2011, the Russian gas giant said in a statement on Thursday after a visit by Ukraine`s Energy Minister Yury Boiko, according to Thompson Financial.
`The topics of discussion included... the gradual transition towards market prices for gas supplies to Ukraine and transit across its territory by 2011,` the company said after Boiko met Gazprom`s CEO Alexei Miller.
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that has set out ambitions for integration with the West, currently pays around 130 usd per 1,000 cubic metres of gas. The global market price for gas is around 230 usd.
Gazprom and Ukraine have had a number of price disputes in recent years.
In 2006, Russia cut off gas to Ukraine because of a price dispute. The cut-off affected Russian gas supplies transiting through Ukraine to European customers further downstream.
Ukraine and Gazprom resolved their latest dispute last month with the signing of an agreement for repayment of a 1.3 bln usd debt for gas supplies.
