Kiev accepts the commercial terms of the initialled trilateral protocol on the deliveries of Russian gas, Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said Friday.
Earlier, Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission Vice President for the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, initialled the gas supplies protocol of 2 billion cubic meters from Russia’s Gazprom to Ukraine.
“Commercial conditions [of the trilateral protocol] are acceptable for the Ukrainian side and from my side, I can confirm that they will be very supportive for our economy,” Demchyshyn said at a press conference.
Demchyshyn noted that Naftogaz has received $500 million from Kiev for the purchase of Russian gas.
“The money is already in the account of Naftogaz, so it is available. It is specifically dedicated to this particular deal and it will be used for acquiring gas from Gazprom,” Demchyshyn said at a press conference.
The sides expressed confidence the full winter package deal will be signed shortly.
Previously, Sefcovic said European financial institutions will allocate $500 million for Ukraine to store 2 billion cubic meters of Russia’s natural gas under the initialled protocol.
(Sputnik)
26/9/15
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Related:
EU-Ukraine-Russia talks agree on the terms of a binding protocol to secure gas supplies for the coming winter
After several rounds of trilateral and bilateral negotiations over the last months, at today's meeting chaired by Vice-President for Energy Union Mr Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission, the Russian Federation and Ukraine have agreed on the terms of gas deliveries to Ukraine for the upcoming winter period from the 1st of October until the end of March 2016.
They have initialised the binding protocol and submitted it to the respective governments for confirmation.
Vice-President Šefčovič said: "The agreement on the terms of the new Winter Package is a crucial step towards ensuring that Ukraine has sufficient gas supplies in the coming winter and that there is no threat to the continued reliable gas transit from Russia to the EU. The initialising demonstrates that both parties live up to their roles as reliable partners in the gas business. I am confident that the agreement will be soon confirmed and smoothly implemented for the benefit of all parties concerned."
According to the initialled protocol, Ukrainian side commits to securing natural gas transit through its territory to the EU, including via injecting 2 bcm of natural gas into underground storage still in October 2015.
The Russian Government commits to lowering the gas price to Ukraine, by means of decreasing the export duty, to a competitive level comparable to the neighbouring EU countries both in the 4th quarter 2015 and in the 1st quarter 2016.
The European Commission continues its efforts towards organising, through European and international financial institutions, the necessary financing for gas purchases by Ukraine during the winter period, as part of which at least 500 Million US $ should be available by the end of this year.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-15-5724_en.htm?locale=en
25/9/15
Russia's Minister of Energy Alexander Novak did not rule out the Russia-EU-Ukraine trilateral meeting on gas may take place in November...
ReplyDelete"If we receive instructions from the leaders to continue consultations, we, of course, will continue them," he said in response to a question from Rossiya 24 television broadcaster on Saturday.
On October 2, France’s President Francois Hollande after the Normandy Four talks said the winter gas packet for Ukraine would be signed, and an "additional meeting" will take place in early November.
http://tass.ru/en/economy/826054
3/10/15