KIEV, February 13 (RIA Novosti) - If Turkmenistan raises the price for natural gas deliveries to Russia to $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, then the price for Ukraine will also increase, a Ukrainian expert said Monday.
"If the price of Turkmen natural gas increases for Russia, then it will consequently increase for Ukraine since the country imports more Turkmen gas than Russian natural gas," said Volodymyr Saprykyn, the director of energy programs for the Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies in Ukraine.
Yuriy Yekhanurov, the Ukrainian prime minister, said Sunday that according to information he had received, Turkmenistan intended to offer Russia natural gas at the price of $100 per 1,000 cu m.
"This does not mean anything for our imports of natural gas," Yekhanurov said.
Saprykyn said, "It is hard to say to what extent the prices will change since the talks will be long and difficult. That is why I do not understand the premier's optimism."
The expert said natural gas prices would rise in the second half of 2006 because "the RosUkrEnergo company stated clearly that the price would change."
The Ukrainian government is not represented in RosUkrEnergo, the sole supplier of Russian and Turkmen gas to Ukraine. The company, which is equally owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom and Austria's Raiffeisen Bank, was chosen to form a joint venture with Ukrainian national energy company Naftogaz under the January 4 deal between Russia and Ukraine. The deal ended the gas price dispute that culminated in Russia briefly cutting off gas supplies to the former Soviet republic.
