Brussels, 16/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - In a meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday 15 April, the CEO of Gazprom, the head of Russian gas company, Alexei Miller, provided European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger with assurances that the Russian company “is and will remain in the future a reliable supplier to the European market”.
Against a background of crisis and political tension with the Ukraine, the US and EU, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, last week threatened to reduce gas supplies to Ukraine, through which 80% of Russian gas transits to the EU, if Ukraine does not honour its debts. Europe has greeted this decision with alarm because it had already experienced energy supply problems caused by the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute in 2009. On Tuesday, Miller, however, provided assurances that Gazprom would respect all its contracts with European energy companies. The Russian gas company chief executive did, however, point out that the Ukraine owed the country $2.2 billion.
On the same day, the Ukrainian gas company, Naftogaz, said that it was ready to immediately pay for the gas that is importing from Russia, as long as Gazprom brought down its price back down to $268.5 per 1,000 cubic metres, as opposed to the current $485. Naftogaz had already sent this proposal to Gazprom on 4 April but did not receive a reply. The price of $268.5 was set in December 2013 as part of an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, before the fall of the pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, removed from power in February, which was followed by the annexation of the Crimea by Russia. Gazprom increased the price at the beginning of April for the second half of the year.
On Tuesday, the Slovakian minister for the economy indicated that Slovakia and Ukraine would sign a memorandum on 28 April that would authorise the inversion of gas flows transiting the Ukraine to the EU. (EH)