Gazprom Tries to Keep Centrality, Signs €350 million Deal with Intesa Sanpaolo

While Ukraine’s Naftogaz asks for a new round of negotiations with Gazprom, the company led by Alexey Miller and Alexander Medvedev signed a bilateral loan agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo Group.

‘Gazprom’s cooperation with a leading European banking group is essential for establishing the partnership relation with lending institutions in Italy and entire Europe,’ the Russian company wrote on Thursday on its website, referring to the deal worth € 350 million.

In December 2014, Gazprom signed a bilateral credit agreement with UniCredit Bank worth a total of € 390 million. 

On Wednesday, Gazprom reiterated that gas prices for Naftogaz are expected to increase by $100 per Tcm. The Ukrainian company answered, calling for a fresh talks. 

‘Russia’s statement that the gas price reduction which is part of the “winter package” signed in Brussels last October is to be abolished from 1 April 2015 is not surprising since the existing agreement is valid only until the end of March. The previous contract terms make buying from Gazprom significantly less economically attractive to Ukraine than buying from our European partners. Naftogaz is ready to hold talks with Gazprom to agree mutually acceptable terms for Russian gas supplies to Ukraine’ said Naftogaz, adding that Gazprom’s share of Ukrainian imports passed from 95% in December 2013 to 33% in December 2014.