Gas Supplies From Hungary to Ukraine Hit Record High – Ukrainian Company

KIEV (Sputnik) — Gas supplies from Hungary to Ukraine reached a record volume of 7.2 million cubic meters on Saturday, a spokesman of Ukraine’s Ukrtransgaz gas company told RIA Novosti.

"As of 6:00 a.m. [04:00 GMT] on March 14, a record amount of gas supply of 7.2 million cubic meters from the territory of Hungary was registered," Maxim Belyavskiy said.

On September 25, Hungarian pipeline network operator FGSZ announced it would halt reverse flow gas supplies to Ukraine, citing the increase in domestic demand. The move was fiercely criticized by Ukraine's state-run energy company Naftogas.

The gas deliveries to Ukraine from neighboring Hungary resumed in mid-January.

Ukraine has been receiving gas through reverse flows from a number of European countries since Russia halted delivery of gas to Kiev in June due to unpaid bills. Ukraine currently receives reverse flow Russian gas from Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Re-exporting gas to Ukraine is viewed by Moscow as illegal.

A total of 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas flowed from the European Union to Ukraine in 2014, according to the European Commission.

In December 2014, Russia resumed gas sales to Kiev under the so-called winter package.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that Ukraine will buy Russian gas that it gets through reverse flows from European countries for $245 per 1,000 cubic meters.