Russia has cut down the price for gas supplies to Ukraine in the second quarter of the year, said the country’s Energy Minister Alexandr Novak. According to him, the price will make less than 180 U.S. dollars per a thousand cubic meters. On Friday, Russia’s leading energy company Gazprom confirmed this information.
In the first quarter, the price of the Russian blue fuel was 195 dollars per a thousand cubic meters; formally, it was 212 dollars but the Russian government offered the 17-dollar discount. However, in the second quarter, the gas discount has been cancelled.
On March 31, Ukraine’s largest energy enterprise Naftogaz Ukraine claimed that Kyiv will not be buying gas from Gazprom since April 1, marking that the price offered by the Russian side is higher than that of EU gas suppliers. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian company said it stays open to dialogue with Russia so as to bring the price in line with the generally accepted market prices.
The National Joint Stock Company Naftogaz Ukraine ceased to buy gas from Russia’s Gazprom in November 2015, taking into account the decreasing prices at the European market. The agreements between Ukraine and Russia that determined conditions of purchase of Russian gas expired in late March 2016. However, Naftogaz didn’t buy gas from Russia in the first quarter either, because the price offered by Russia was significantly higher than that at EU gas markets.
According to Naftogaz, as of March 31, 2016, Ukraine hasn’t been importing gas from Russia for 125 days; the period includes the three winter months of 2015-2016.
