Neftegaz Ukrainy has urged RosUkrEnergo to sell to it all gas designated for Ukraine bypassing Ukrgaz Energo. The respective notifications were provided past week, and Gazprom was informed about the proposal, said Igor Didenko, acting deputy board chairman at Neftegaz Ukrainy, according to Kommersant daily.
According to the newspaper, in an effort to win back lost positions, Neftegaz Ukrainy is willing to buy some 50 billion cu meters of the Asian gas without any intermediaries, Neftegaz Ukrainy CEO Oleg Dubina told the cabinet today. For this purpose, Dubina went on, it needs the government’s guarantee for the acquisition of 50 billion cu meters at $179.5 per each thousand cu meters, Ukrainian border.
Neftegaz Ukrainy intends to buy 50 billion cu meters from RosUkrEnergo, Fuel and Energy Minister Yuri Prodan explained to reporters, adding the company will make different contracts in the country to exclude intermediaries [Ukrgaz Energo].
Swiss trader RosUkrEnergo (50/50 owned by Gazprom and Centragas Holding AG) has been supplying the gas to Ukraine since January 2006; the amount is roughly 55 billion cu meters. Nowadays, however, Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko attempts to cross out the intermediaries – RosUkrEnergo and Ukrgaz Energo – from the chain of deliveries.
Apart from the gas, the WTO membership is another hot topic when it comes to Ukraine. On Tuesday, that country sealed the protocol for joining the WTO, promising at the same time to ease the process for Russia.
Ukraine will never initiate or support the initiation of any artificial complications for any country’s admission to the WTO, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko vowed in Geneva, pledging to back up Russia en route to the WTO.
