Brussels, 12/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 January, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic will visit Moscow to assess implementation of the agreement on the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine for winter 2014-15 - an agreement that was concluded on 30 October 2014 under EU mediation. Sefcovic will make this assessment with Russia's Minister for Energy Alexander Novak and they will also discuss preparation of a new trilateral gas agreement to take over from the current agreement in the spring.
The winter 2014-15 package, which expires at the end of March, is based on payment by Russian gas company Naftogaz of part of its debt to Russian gas company Gazprom at a price of $268.5 per 1,000 m3 - and in two instalments of $1.45 billion and $1.65 billion by the end of 2014. Gazprom, which claims a total arrears of $5.3 billion, has agreed to appeal to the Stockholm arbitration court for the outstanding $2.2 billion. Gazprom has committed to supplying Ukraine at a price below $385 per 1,000 m3 until March 2015. Naftogaz makes its payment in advance on a monthly basis.
The three stakeholders also need to agree on the trilateral follow-up mission for checking the gas flows to each of the 18 gas metering stations, which measure the gas that crosses Ukraine's borders. Following the agreement on 30 October, the Ukrainian government has called for the re-integration of the gas monitoring system created in 2009 - which the European party supports (see EUROPE 11226).
On Wednesday, Sefcovic will meet Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich Vladimirovich and the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, in addition to Novak. On Monday, the Commission was not able to give further detail on the programme for Sefcovic's visit to Moscow. (EH)