BRUSSELS, January 12 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom will launch a test gas delivery to Europe at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time [7:00 GMT] on Tuesday, the CEO of the Russian energy giant said on Monday evening.
"I propose starting a test gas delivery at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time tomorrow," Alexei Miller told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"I agree, start working," Putin answered.
A deputy CEO of Gazprom said earlier on Monday that Russian natural gas supplies to Europe, halted last Wednesday over a gas dispute with Ukraine, could resume early on Tuesday.
"Deliveries of Russian transit gas [to Europe through Ukraine] could start at 8 o'clock in the morning CET [07:00 GMT] on Tuesday," Alexander Medvedev said.
The European Commission signed on Monday a new version of an agreement on monitoring the flow of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, Russia's envoy to the EU said.
Russia earlier said it was ready to restore gas supplies to Ukraine once the new transit control deal had been signed.
European Union energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, in charge of Russia's fuel and energy sector, and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller participated in the signing ceremony.
Alexander Medvedev also said Russia, Ukraine and the European Union would send 25 experts each to monitor the flow of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine.
"Each side has the right to allocate 25 experts," he told journalists.
Russia cut off shipments to Ukraine after talks on outstanding debt and a gas price for 2009 broke down on New Year's Eve. The gas conflict led to a complete breakdown in Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine, which transits around 80% of Russia's gas exports to EU countries.
The European Commission said earlier some 20 countries had been affected by the Russia-Ukraine gas row, especially in the Balkan region, "where the crisis has left tens of thousands of households in the cold and forced schools, hospitals and factories to close."
A gas pricing row between the former Soviet neighbors in 2006 also led to disruptions in shipments to some European consumers, and the latest spat has reawakened concerns about the reliability of Russia as a supplier.
Vladimir Putin said earlier on Monday that Gazprom would resume the flow of gas to Europe via Ukraine once it was sure that international monitors were in place to fully supervise the process.
Alexander Medvedev also said Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz had insisted on including Swiss trader RosUkrEnergo in the scheme to supply Russian gas to the EU.
In line with the 2008 scheme of gas supplies to Ukraine, Gazprom sold gas to RosUkrEnergo, which later resold gas to Naftogaz on the border, which then resold gas to a Gazprom subsidiary, which in turn resold the gas to Ukrainian industrial consumers.
RosUkrEnergo supplied to Ukraine the majority of the gas that it bought from Gazprom, and exported the remaining volumes to Europe. The company was set up in July 2004. Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said RosUkrEnergo would from January 1 be excluded from the chain of gas suppliers.
Medvedev said Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko had ordered Naftogaz head Oleh Dubyna not to sign the Russian gas supply contract.
"Ms. Tymoshenko negotiated the commercial conditions of gas supplies to Ukraine, but Mr. Yushchenko forbade Mr. Dubyna from signing the contract," he said.
Naftogaz says it needs about 20 million cu m of gas a day to meet the technical demands of transiting gas to Europe. However, Gazprom said Ukraine should either use its own "technical" gas, or buy it if it lacked its own resources.
Gazprom earlier accused Ukraine of stealing more than 86 million cubic meters of gas since the start of the year, but Kiev denied the accusations, saying that Russia was trying to discredit Ukraine as a reliable gas transit partner.
Alexander Medvedev told the Moscow-based radio station Ekho Moskvy on Monday that Russia would charge Ukraine $450 per 1,000 cu m of supplied gas in the first quarter of 2009. "The gas price of $450 per 1,000 cu m is the price for the first quarter of 2009, and not for the entire year," he said.
Gazprom earlier offered Ukraine a price of $250 per 1,000 cu m for gas in 2009, about half the current average price in Europe. Putin said the price was tantamount to "humanitarian aid." Ukraine, which paid $179.5 last year, said it was prepared to pay $200-235 per 1,000 cu m. After the refusal, Gazprom said the price could be $418.
A Gazprom spokesman said on Monday that Ukraine was again provoking a gas transit crisis to Europe by saying that it intended to use Russian gas, without paying for it, to meet the technical demands of transit.
"If Ukraine's Naftogaz cannot provide technical gas for itself from its own resources, it must buy it, but not seize it illegally from the transit shipments," Sergei Kupriyanov said.
Gazprom CEO Miller warned Ukraine on Monday against tapping Russian natural gas to meet the technical demands of transit.
"I mean here tapping Russian gas under any pretext. The total volume, 100% of gas, should be transported to Ukraine's western border," Miller said during a meeting with Putin.
Their comments came after Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyanskiy had said earlier on Monday that Ukraine would continue tapping, for technical purposes, Russian gas being transited to European countries.
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