KIEV, March 28 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine has no outstanding debt on natural gas from its main supplier, the central Asian republic of Turkmenistan, the Ukrainian fuel and energy minister said Tuesday.
Ivan Plachkov said at a news conference, "We have no debt to Turkmenistan. There is a difference between obligations and debt. Ukraine paid $88 million as prepayment in January to Turkmenistan for natural gas, under its obligations."
The minister said that at the last round of talks on the issue, the Turkmen side had tried to revise previously agreed prices. The whole cause of the disagreement between the countries on the gas debt is Turkmenistan's unilateral alterations to standing agreements, he said.
Plachkov said that for the first half of 2006, the contract with Turkmenistan on gas supplies at $50 per 1,000 cubic meters was not being fulfilled, but that Kiev was continuing talks with Ashgabat, and aims to bring the contract back into force in the second half of the year.
Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry recently said that Ukraine was delaying payment for natural gas shipments and threatened to cut off supplies unless the Ukrainian side cleared the outstanding debt. If this were to happen, it would be the second time a supplier had turned off the taps to Ukraine, as Russian energy giant Gazprom cut supplies on January 1 amid a bitter dispute over prices for natural gas supplies. The spat was settled with an agreement three days later.
Turkmenistan became the principal supplier of natural gas to Ukraine after Kiev signed an agreement with Ashgabat to increase Turkmen gas supplies, buying less from Russia.
According to Turkmenistan, Ukraine's debt stands at $158.9 million; the country's foreign ministry has said a failure to settle the debt could place bilateral energy cooperation in doubt.
