BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz have signed an additional agreement to the contract for the so-called winter packet of Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine in the fourth quarter of the heating season, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Friday.
“Yes, we signed,” Miller told journalists after trilateral gas talks with Ukraine and the European Commission in Brussels.
Earlier Vice President of the EU Commission Maros Sefcovic, who is in charge of the energy union said on his Twitter account that the trio “initialled” a trilateral protocol on delivering gas to Ukraine.
Alexei Miller also said he expects Ukraine to resume gas purchases from Russia on October 1.
"After the [initialled protocol] document is signed, Ukraine will start buying our gas. We expect the purchase to begin on October 1," Miller said, confirming that Ukraine’s Naftogaz had received $500 million needed for the acquisition.
He elaborated, however, that the 2 billion cubic meters agreed to by the initialled winter gas package protocol would be insufficient for Ukraine, especially if weather conditions prove to be low.
"Our assessment is that Ukraine will need anywhere from 5 to 7 billion cubic meters [bcm] of gas from October 1 to March 31," Miller observed, projecting the bulk of the purchase to fall on the first three months of next year.
