MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom, Russia's natural gas giant, said in a press release today it might consider selling additional natural gas to Ukraine at European prices.
Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller and Alexei Ivchenko, the board chairman of Naftogaz, Ukraine's national oil and gas company, held a meeting earlier to discuss the move to pay in cash rather than in goods for natural gas transit and exports, which will start from 2006.
Ukraine stores 7.8 billion cubic meters of Gazprom natural gas in underground facilities. Over the period from fall to winter in 2004-2005, Ukraine ignored 40 enquiries from Gazprom, which wanted to take the said amount of gas and sell it.
Over 128 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas will be transported via Ukraine in 2005.
In 2004, Gazprom supplied Ukraine with 29.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas as payment for its transit services.
Under the protocol on the amount and conditions of Russian natural gas transit via Ukraine in 2005, which the Russian and Ukrainian governments signed on July 5, 2004, Russia is supposed to deliver 23 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine this year as payment for transit.
