Ukraine has received over 1 billion cu m of Russian natural gas since January and its debt for gas supplies stands at $719 million, Swiss trader RosUkrEnergo, half owned by Gazprom, said on Wednesday, according to RIA Novosti.
"As of January 23, more than 1 billion cu m of Russian gas has been supplied by RosUkrEnergo AG to Ukrainian consumers," said Andrei Knutov, press secretary of RosUkrEnergo, the intermediary firm that transports gas from Turkmenistan to East European countries.
Knutov said the debt owed by UkrGazEnergo, a joint venture between RosUkrEnergo and Ukraine`s national oil and gas company Naftogaz, which sells gas in Ukraine, amounts to $719 million.
RosUkrEnergo earlier said it would sell Russian gas to Ukraine in January-March for $314 per 1,000 cu m to cover a shortfall in Central Asian supplies.
In December, Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine agreed that gas for Ukraine to be sold via RosUkrEnergo would cost $179.5 per 1,000 cu m in 2008 and Russia would pay Ukraine $1.7 per 1,000 cu m for the transit of gas per 100 km, up from the previous $1.6.
Previously, RosUkrEnergo supplied a mixture of Russian and cheaper Central Asian gas, but in 2007 it switched to Turkmen gas.
