Brussels, 13/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 13 June, European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger was due to try and force the hand of the Russian and Ukrainian authorities to resume their negotiations on the gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev so as to finally settle the payment of the Ukrainian debt and set a price for the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine until June 2015.
At the end of the European energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg the same day, Oettinger told press that he was going to call on the Russian and Ukrainian energy ministers, Alexander Novak and Yuriy Prodan respectively, to encourage them to meet bilaterally again, and also trilaterally with Oettinger, over the weekend. “Time limits have been set and they need to be respected. The time limit runs out on Monday morning. We have 60 hours left”, he said
The last ultimatum set by the Russian gas company Gazprom for settling the Ukrainian debt, and hence postponement of the pre-payment system demanded by Russia, runs until Monday 16 June. Ukraine has not accepted Moscow's last price offer of a US$100 reduction on the price of US$485 per 1,000 m3 of gas set by a 2009 contract.
For Ukraine, the Russian offer is firstly too high compared with the reduced price of US$268 set at the end of 2013, which ran until the former pro-Russian president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, was deposed. Secondly, the Russian offer comes without any guarantees as the US$385 price would stem from a reduction decided by the Russian government and not by a contract in due form, Prodan stated on Wednesday 11 June.
Russia and Ukraine are, therefore, in disagreement over the bill to be settled by the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz. With Ukraine's payment of the first tranche of US$786 at the end of May, the rest of the Ukrainian debt for 2013 and 2014, accepted by Kiev, amounts to US$1.454 billion. Gazprom puts forward a figure of US$4.46 billion. (EH)