BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The negotiations of the so-called virtual reverse, which implies that the EU-bound Russian gas will be siphoned at Ukraine's EU border by consent of the initial buyer, started when Ukraine failed to reach an agreement with Russia’s Gazprom energy company on gas supplies in the third quarter of 2015. According to Gazprom, the scheme is not legal without its permission.
"The first [meeting] will be in August, on the 27th, with Ukrainian ministers, and, possibly, in the beginning of September, with Russian minister," Canete told reporters.
"There will probably be a trilateral, ministerial level meeting at the end of September," he added.
On August 7, Mykhailo Bno-Airiian, the head of the European Integration Department of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, said that Ukraine would need an average of 18 billion cubic meters of gas before the winter heating season begins.
On August 10, Ukraine's state-run energy company Naftogaz said it would allocate funds from a $300-million loan provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to purchase natural gas from the European Union.
"There will probably be a trilateral, ministerial level meeting at the end of September," he added.
