Naftogaz to Order Gas from Gazprom as a Last Resort

As Ukraine transferred $1.45 billion to Gazprom as a first tranche for unpaid gas bills, Naftogaz said it will order gas from Gazprom flexibly and without take-or-pay provisions. The Ukrainian company clarified that it will prefer to make use of gas from UGS or resources imported from the EU.

‘Only in case of excess demand will we make use of our right to buy gas from Gazprom. The main suppliers of imported gas to Ukraine this winter are European companies,” Naftogaz’ CEO Andrei Kobolye, commented on Wednesday.

Kobolye stressed the need to curb gas squandering in the country, saying that a rational usage of gas will decrease Kiev’s reliance on Russian gas. 

“The more efficiently we use energy the less we will have to import. Two-thirds of gas consumption in winter is driven by households. If the central heating in our homes is too high and we open windows to lower the temperature then this is the best way to promote purchases of Russian gas.” 

According to the website of the Ukrainian government, Naftogaz of Ukraine has already ‘transferred $1.45 billion to Gazprom as a tranche for gas supplied and unpaid previously.’

As agreed in Brussels last week, Naftogaz will pay Gazprom $3.1 billion for 11.5 billion cubic meters of gas, priced at $268.5 per thousand cubic meters.  

Meanwhile, Slovakia’s Eustream announced the Open Season procedure for the increased interruptible capacity at Budince interconnection point. 

‘Eustream provides additional pipeline capacity of 4.5 million cubic meters per day (46,800 MWh) in response to the technical measures taken at the Ukrainian side, which have resulted in increase of pipeline capacity. In order to participate in the Open Season procedure, interested parties may register with Eustream starting today until November 17, 2014. Binding requests for transmission capacity may be submitted until November 19, 2014,’ the company wrote on Tuesday.