MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine restarted imports of natural gas from Poland this week, maxing out the carrying capacity of a pipeline, the Polish Gaz System transit operator said Thursday.
According to the company, Ukraine imported up to four million cubic meters of gas on Tuesday, the maximum capacity of the pipeline. The delivery came following an agreement between German energy company RWE and Ukraine’s state-run Naftogaz.
The annual volume of natural gas that Poland’s Hermanovice hub can pump is 1.5 billion cubic meters. Gaz System added that deliveries are accounted for on a daily basis.
Next week the pipeline operator will hold an auction on the hub’s carrying capacity for May.
Naftogaz and RWE signed a five-year agreement on gas supplies in May 2012. Under the document, Germany will supply Ukraine with 10 billion cubic meters of gas. Last year RWE sold Naftogaz 1 billion cubic meters.
Naftogaz’s previous gas purchases from Poland were on a much smaller scale, and ceased completely in December after Russia gave Ukraine a 30 percent discount on gas imports, setting a price in the first quarter of this year at $268.50 per thousand cubic meters.
Moscow recently ended two $100 discounts on the price of gas exported to Ukraine, following the country's failure to pay its gas debts and the ending of an agreement on the basing rights for the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
Naftogaz said Tuesday it is ready to pay for imported gas from Russia at the previous price. The company currently owes Russian gas giant Gazprom $2.2 billion.
