BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Russia insists that the gas price formula and the existing contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz should not be changed until the contract's expiration in 2019, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday.
"The Russian side believes that the current contract and the price formula should not be subject to change until the expiration," Novak told reporters at a joint news conference following trilateral gas talks in Brussels.
"The existing contract envisions the possibility of discounts, and the sides use this possibility to regulate contractual obligations," Novak stressed.
Novak stressed that the signatories agreed to review the contractual gas price every quarter, citing a volatile gas market.
"Since the price formula serves to calculate the price for a long-term period [of 9 months], the price will be reviewed on a quarterly basis," the energy minister said.
Ukraine is currently paying $329 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian natural gas as part of a deal, brokered by the European Commission last year to secure gas deliveries to Ukraine during peak winter season. This deal is set to expire on March 31, 2015.
