Alexei Ivchenko told a news conference: "I think this intergovernmental agreement will be signed at a Ukrainian and Russian prime ministers' meeting soon, most likely in February."
"We have prepared a [supplemental] intergovernmental protocol to the long-term agreement until 2013 here [in Kiev]. We coordinated the draft protocol with Russian experts, and presented it to them officially. They left for Moscow to review it," he said.
Ivchenko said Naftogaz would send a delegation to Moscow Wednesday for discussions with Russian energy giant Gazprom. The talks will include negotiations on the draft agreement, which covers volumes of natural gas supplies for 2006, along with the formation of a joint venture company by Naftogaz and RosUkrEnergo. He added that the joint venture would be should be established by January 22.
RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-based company that transports Central Asian natural gas to Ukraine via Russia, is owned half by Gazprom subsidiary Gazprombank and half by Austrian bank Raiffeisen. Gazprombank's share in RosUkrEnergo is to be transferred to Gazprom, while Naftogaz could take control Raiffeisen's shares.
The new joint venture company will buy gas from RosUkrEnergo at the Russian-Ukrainian border.
According to Ivchenko, gas supplies for Ukraine in 2006 are forecast at 76 billion cu m, with RosUkrEnergo providing 34 billion cu m. Another 22 billion cu m will be bought from Turkmenistan under direct contracts, and the remaining 20 billion cu m will be produced in Ukraine.
