Gazprom Signs New Contract With Ukraine for 2Q15 Gas Supplies

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia’s gas giant Gazprom has signed a new contract with Ukraine’s Naftogaz on fuel deliveries for the second quarter of 2015, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Thursday.

“An additional contract with Ukraine’s Naftogaz has been signed that regulates the technical issues of fulfilling the 2009 contract on gas deliveries to Ukraine that are the same as the current ‘winter package’ agreement,” Miller said.

The final price for gas deliveries has been set at $247.18 per 1,000 cubic meters after subtracting the discount of $100 per 1,000 cubic meters agreed on earlier.

Newly discounted gas delivers from Russia will cover current consumption needs in the second quarter of this year, Ukrainian Minister of Energy Volodymyr Demchyshyn said Thursday.

"We will buy as much as needed. This is a technological need. We understand [gas] will be even cheaper in the future, so now we are mainly covering operational consumption," the energy minister told reporters.

Gas will begin being pumped into underground storage facilities when there is money and the price for gas drops, Demchyshyn added.

In June 2014, Gazprom switched Ukraine to a prepayment system for gas supplies due to Kiev's debt.

In October 2014, Moscow and Kiev signed a "winter package" agreement securing gas supplies to Ukraine until March 2015 and guaranteeing a $100 discount per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas.

The deal was set to expire on March 31, but the Russian government extended it Tuesday for three additional months in consideration of Ukraine's failing economy.