Ukraine Ready to Buy Gas From Russia at Market Price Below $180

Kiev is ready to buy Russian gas at a price that is lower than $180 per 1000 cubic meters.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Kiev is ready to buy Russian gas at a market price, considerably lower than $180 per 1000 cubic meters, Ukraine’s Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn told Sputnik on Thursday.

"We wouldn’t mind buying [gas from Russia] as long as they provide it at the market price," Demchyshyn said on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. "In my understanding, the market price is below $180 per 1000 cubic meters. Objectively speaking, it should be significantly lower [than $180]."

Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz said Thursday it has no plans to resume purchases of natural gas from Russia's energy giant Gazprom from April 1 but will continue to ensure uninterrupted transit of Russian gas to European consumers.

Russia provided a quarterly gas discount for Ukraine last year at the request of the Ukrainian side. In the first quarter of 2015 the price of gas for Ukraine, taking into account the $100 discount, was $329 for 1,000 cubic meters, in the second — $247.18, in the third — $247.17. For the fourth quarter the discount was $20 and the price of gas was $227.36 for 1,000 cubic meters.

The discount was agreed upon as part of the "winter package" deal between Russia and Ukraine signed in 2015. It expired on March 31.

In October 2015, Ukraine's energy company Naftogaz said that the country was completing the purchase of gas from Russia's energy giant Gazprom, and the decision to continue to import gas from this supplier would depend on the price. The following month, Ukraine halted purchases of Russian gas, saying the pricing offered by its European partners was much lower than that offered by Moscow.