(RFE/RL)
6 January 2006 -- A Ukrainian industry official today said that Kyiv does not need Russian natural gas in the immediate future and that its domestic needs will be entirely covered by supplies from Central Asia.
Andriy Lopushanskiy, the first deputy chairman of the state-controlled Naftohaz Ukrayiny gas concern, told reporters that under an agreement reached on 4 January with Russia's monopoly Gazprom, most of the Central Asian gas that will transit through Ukraine this year will be meant for domestic consumption.
Under a five-year agreement, Gazprom will sell natural gas to RosUkrEnergo -- a company it co-owns -- at a rate of $230 per 1,000 cubic meters. RosUkrEnergo will then mix this gas with supplies from Central Asia and resell it to Ukraine at a price of $95 per 1,000 cubic meters.
(Ukrayinska pravda/lenta.ru/ITAR-TASS)