KIEV, July 29 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz has sent Gazprom a letter proposing that the Russian gas giant reviews the terms of contract for gas transit via Ukraine, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev told UNN Tuesday.
“This week we have sent a letter to Joint-Stock Company Gazprom with a demand to review the transit contract. This process has been started as well. One of the terms of the [proposed] transit contract is a revision of gas volumes accounting methods, including on where it will be counted and how the process will be controlled,” Kobolev said, declining to disclose other Kiev’s proposals.
RIA Novosti was not able to get any comments from Gazprom.
On June 16, right after the switch to a prepayment system for gas deliveries, Naftogaz filed charges with the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal contesting Gazprom’s price for natural gas. Specifically, the Ukrainian state-owned company is seeking to recover some $6 billion from Gazprom it claims to have overpaid since 2010.
Gazprom sued Naftogaz at the same in the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal to recover its debt, which reached $4.5 billion at the time of the switch to prepayment system.
Ukraine is both a transit country and a consumer of Russian gas. Ukraine’s gas debt to Russia started mounting in 2013, when the country found itself amid a deep political crisis. While the transit currently continues in accordance with contractual terms, both Gazprom and the European Commission anticipate problems in the winter, when Ukraine is expected to run out of gas reserves.
