Brussels, 25/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Ukraine are to establish a consultation group on gas transit. European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger and Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan,agreed at a meeting on Thursday 24 July to set up a bilateral consultation group on gas issues.
The group will be made up of two representatives of the Commission and two representatives of the Ukrainian government, and it will meet three times a week from 30 July of this year. The two sides will jointly monitor flows of gas in the Ukrainian gas transport system.
Additionally, trilateral talks between the EU, Russia and Ukraine on a resolution to the gas dispute between Moscow and Kiev, including the payment of Ukrainian debt to the Russian gas company Gazprom and laying down the price the future supply, are still at deadlock. No date had been set on Friday 25 July for a meeting between Commissioner Oettinger and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak ahead of the resumption of the trilateral discussions. The Russian gas company Gazprom turned off the gas taps to Ukraine on 16 June (see EUROPE 11117). (EH)