Russia, Ukraine agree deal on winter gas supplies

Ukraine agreed a deal with Russia late Friday to secure natural gas supplies over the winter.

The agreement gives Ukraine a discount to ensure the price is competitive and close to prices in Poland.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Demchyshyn signed an agreement in Brussels with EU energy chief Maros Sefcovic.

“All the technical details are agreed,” Sefcovic told a news conference. The deal still needs to be ratified in Moscow and Kiev.

The deal runs to March and will ensure the smooth flow of gas to the EU via Ukraine, as well as making sure Ukraine has sufficient gas stocks to cope with increased demand in the winter. Next month, Ukraine will store 2 billion cubic meters of gas from Gazprom, assisted by EU financing.

The supply of gas was interrupted in July in a row over pricing. The EU receives around 10 percent of its gas through Ukrainian pipelines from Russia and previous disputes between the former Soviet neighbors in 2006 and 2009 had disrupted the supply to Europe.

Sefcovic said a $19 discount would put the new price level at $232 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Both the Ukrainian and Russian economies have suffered due to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
 www.aa.com.tr
26/9/15
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Related:

• Russia, the European Union and Ukraine on Friday initialed an agreement that is expected to maintain the supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine throughout the winter period, but at the same time said that the arrangement document was a preliminary one and will be signed during next week....

• 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