Brussels, 02/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Energy Gunter Oettinger has asked for a telephone meeting with the Russian authorities on 4 July regarding the gas issue, said Russia's Minister for Energy Alexander Novak on Tuesday 2 July. “We will agree to a meeting. We will speak about issues linked to the South Stream gas pipeline project and to the pumping of gas”, said Novak, as quoted by Russian news agency Interfax. He added that Moscow did not intend to change the price proposed to Ukraine for the supply of Russian gas.
Oettinger is still trying to find a solution to the Russian-Ukrainian dispute over the settlement of Ukraine's debt to Gazprom and the new price for deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine. He earlier met Ukraine's Minister for Energy Yuriy Prodan about this on 25 June (see EUROPE 11108). (EH)